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Complementary and alternative medicine use among newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

We surveyed prostate cancer patients about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and evaluated patient factors that correlated with CAM use 6 months following diagnosis.

Methods

The Prostate CAncer Therapy Selection study was a prospective, observational multi-site study of men’s treatment decision-making process after a diagnosis of local stage prostate cancer. Recruitment occurred in community urology practices in Washington State, hospital-based urology clinics affiliated with the University of Southern California, and Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. Eligible study participants included men over age 21 diagnosed with local stage prostate cancer between May 1, 2005 and December 31, 2006.

Results

Fifty-two percent of survey respondents (379) reported using one or more types of CAM. Of the patients, 51% used one CAM method, 26% used two methods, and 23% used three or more methods. The most commonly reported category was mind–body therapies (65%). Only 43% of patients discussed their CAM use with a health professional; of those, 20% informed their primary care physician and 30% told the doctor managing their prostate cancer care. Less than half thought the CAM they used was “very helpful”, but a majority thought it was somewhat helpful for their condition.

Conclusions

Further research is needed to characterize the goals prostate cancer patients have for CAM, whether the treatments met those goals, and how this translates into the perceived helpfulness of these therapies. The implications of patients not discussing CAM use with health professionals at the time of prostate cancer treatment need further studies.

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Acknowledgements

The participant recruitment and informed consent efforts in the Los Angeles area are due to the work of Ann S. Hamilton, PhD, at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC); David F. Penson, MD, MPH, formerly of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center/USC (now at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center); L. Tracy Paz, MSN, RN, Charlotte Lee, MPH, MS, and Vicky Araujo at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Norma Caldera, and Mary Lo at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center. The Northern California recruitment was made possible by the efforts of Stephen K. Van Den Eeden, PhD, Amethyst Leimpeter, MS, and Brenna McGee at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. The recruitment efforts in the Pacific Northwest region were made possible by independent urologists and their dedicated nursing staff in community clinics throughout Washington (Centralia, Edmonds, Everett, Olympia, Port Angeles, Tacoma, Silverdale, Spokane) and Portland, OR. Additionally, Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, PhD, MPH at the CPIC (formerly known as the NCCC), oversaw the data coordinating center for the collaborative study ensuring standardization and consistency in study methods and analyses across the three performance sites. The authors also wish to thank Arnold L. Potosky, PhD, (Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center) for his work on survey development.

Funding Source

This publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute contracts HHSN261200900582P, N01-PC-35142, N01-PC-35139, and N01-PC-35136.

This research was also supported by the Cancer Surveillance System of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which is funded by Contract No. N01-PC-35142 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute with additional support from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the State of Washington.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent any official position of the National Cancer Institute.

Conflict of Interest

The authors, with the exception of Neeraj Arora, report no financial relationships with the organization sponsoring this research which would indicate a conflict of interest. Neeraj Arora is an employee of the National Cancer Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. North, M3-B232, Seattle, WA, 98109-1024, USA

    Cara L. McDermott, Catherine R. Fedorenko, Steven B. Zeliadt, Megan E. Fairweather & Scott D. Ramsey

  2. School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    David K. Blough

  3. Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Neeraj K. Arora

  4. Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence, VA Puget, Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA

    Steven B. Zeliadt

  5. Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA

    Ingrid Oakley-Girvan

  6. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente–Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA

    Stephen K. Van Den Eeden

Authors
  1. Cara L. McDermott
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  2. David K. Blough
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  4. Neeraj K. Arora
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  7. Ingrid Oakley-Girvan
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  8. Stephen K. Van Den Eeden
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  9. Scott D. Ramsey
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott D. Ramsey.

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McDermott, C.L., Blough, D.K., Fedorenko, C.R. et al. Complementary and alternative medicine use among newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 20, 65–73 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-1055-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-1055-y

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