Edwards Grace V, Aherne Noel J, Horsley Patrick J, Benjamin Linus C, McLachlan Craig S, McKay Michael J, Shakespeare Thomas P
Department of Radiation Oncology, North Coast Cancer Institute, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.
Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2014 Dec;10(4):346-53. doi: 10.1111/ajco.12203. Epub 2014 May 19.
The use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) in oncology patients is increasing in incidence, with calls to routinely screen for their use. We introduced a screening tool as part of clinical care to identify CAT use.
We evaluated all patients who attended the radiation oncology outpatient clinic between December 2011 and July 2012, who had filled out the CAT screening tool, and evaluated types of CAT use, reasons for use and predictors of CAT usage.
A total of 639 patients completed the CAT screening tool, which was 75% of eligible patients. There were 464 (72.6%) men and 175 (27.4%) women, with a mean age of 69.9 years (range 27-94 years). Prostate cancer was the predominant diagnosis (53.1%), followed by breast cancer (17.5%) and skin cancer (14.7%). Of these, 530 patients (82.9%) had used at least one therapy. Of the 530 patients using CAT, the most quoted reasons for use were to improve quality of life (42.6%), to boost the immune system and general health (33.6%), to increase energy levels (32.6%) and to live longer (28.9%). Of the 530 users, only 112 patients (21.1%) took CAT to help cure their cancer. Women were significantly more likely to use CAT, as were patients with breast cancer.
The use of CAT in patients with cancer is prevalent and more frequent in our population than in other published studies. Few patients use CAT to improve their cancer cure, but rather use CAT for other reasons.
肿瘤患者使用补充和替代疗法（CAT）的发生率正在上升，因此有人呼吁对其使用情况进行常规筛查。我们引入了一种筛查工具作为临床护理的一部分，以识别CAT的使用情况。
我们评估了2011年12月至2012年7月期间在放射肿瘤门诊就诊且填写了CAT筛查工具的所有患者，并评估了CAT的使用类型、使用原因和CAT使用的预测因素。
共有639名患者完成了CAT筛查工具，占符合条件患者的75%。其中男性464名（72.6%），女性175名（27.4%），平均年龄69.9岁（范围27 - 94岁）。前列腺癌是主要诊断疾病（53.1%），其次是乳腺癌（17.5%）和皮肤癌（14.7%）。其中，530名患者（82.9%）使用了至少一种疗法。在使用CAT的530名患者中，最常提及的使用原因是改善生活质量（42.6%）、增强免疫系统和整体健康（33.6%）、提高能量水平（32.6%）和延长寿命（28.9%）。在530名使用者中，只有112名患者（21.1%）使用CAT来帮助治愈癌症。女性以及乳腺癌患者使用CAT的可能性明显更高。
癌症患者中CAT的使用很普遍，在我们的人群中比其他已发表的研究更为频繁。很少有患者使用CAT来改善癌症治愈情况，而是出于其他原因使用CAT。
