Chui Ping Lei, Abdullah Khatijah Lim, Wong Li Ping, Taib Nur Aishah
Author Affiliations: Faculty of Medicine, Departments of Nursing Science (Dr Chui and Dr Abdullah), Social and Preventive Medicine (Dr Wong), and Surgery (Dr Taib), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Cancer Nurs. 2018 May/Jun;41(3):189-199. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0000000000000527.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is commonly used for cancer- and chemotherapy-related symptoms. Nurses are likely to encounter many CAM users in their practice.
The aims of this study were to assess CAM use and examine the symptom burden of CAM and non-CAM users among patients with breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy.
A CAM use questionnaire and the Side-Effect Burden Scale were administered to 546 patients. Complementary and alternative medicine use was categorized as mind-body practices (MBPs), natural products (NPs), or traditional medicine (TM).
We identified 386 CAM users (70.7%) in this study. The CAM users reported a higher marginal mean total symptom burden score (40.39 ± 2.6) than non-CAM users (36.93 ± 3.21), although this difference was not statistically significant (P = .09). Triple-modality (MBP-NP-TM) CAM users had a significantly higher marginal mean total symptom burden score (47.44 ± 4.12) than single-modality (MBP) users (34.09 ± 4.43). The risk of having a high total symptom burden score was 12.9-fold higher among the MBP-NP-TM users than among the MBP users.
Complementary and alternative medicine use is common among Malaysian patients who are undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. However, CAM and non-CAM users reported similar symptom burdens, although single-modality use of MBP is likely associated with a lower symptom burden.
Nurses should keep abreast of current developments and trends in CAM use. Understanding CAM use and the related symptom burden will allow nurses to initiate open discussion and guide their patients in seeking additional information or referrals for a particular therapy.
补充和替代医学（CAM）常用于治疗癌症及与化疗相关的症状。护士在工作中可能会遇到许多使用补充和替代医学的患者。
本研究旨在评估乳腺癌化疗患者中补充和替代医学的使用情况，并检查使用和未使用补充和替代医学的患者的症状负担。
对546例患者进行了补充和替代医学使用问卷调查及副作用负担量表评估。补充和替代医学的使用分为身心疗法（MBP）、天然产物（NP）或传统医学（TM）。
本研究中我们确定了386名补充和替代医学使用者（70.7%）。补充和替代医学使用者报告的边际平均总症状负担得分（40.39±2.6）高于未使用者（36.93±3.21），尽管这种差异无统计学意义（P = 0.09）。三联疗法（MBP-NP-TM）使用者的边际平均总症状负担得分（47.44±4.12）显著高于单一疗法（MBP）使用者（34.09±4.43）。MBP-NP-TM使用者的总症状负担得分较高的风险是MBP使用者的12.9倍。
在马来西亚接受乳腺癌化疗的患者中，补充和替代医学的使用很普遍。然而，使用和未使用补充和替代医学的患者报告的症状负担相似，尽管单一使用MBP可能与较低的症状负担相关。
护士应跟上补充和替代医学使用的当前发展和趋势。了解补充和替代医学的使用情况及相关症状负担将使护士能够展开公开讨论，并指导患者寻求特定疗法的更多信息或转诊。
