Alternative Medicine's Popularity Is Rising

NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters Health) -- The use of alternative medicine increased ``dramatically'' between 1990 and 1997, jumping by almost 50%, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, report.

The research team conducted a telephone survey of over 1,500 US adults in 1991, then repeated the survey among an even larger group in 1997. Their report is published this week in a special ``Alternative Medicine'' theme issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The researchers report that during those 6 years, Americans charted ``a 47.3% increase in total visits to alternative medicine practitioners, from 427 million in 1990 to 629 million in 1997.'' They estimate that the number of visits made by Americans to herbalists, chiropractors and other purveyors of alternative medicine now exceeds ``total visits to all US primary care physicians.''

Use of herbal medicines, therapeutic massage, megavitamins, self-help groups, folk remedies, homeopathy and energy-based healing exhibited the steepest rises in popularity during the 1990s, with herbal remedy sales rising by 380% and megavitamin use rising by 130%.

The authors report that 58% of those surveyed in 1997 said they sought out alternative medicines or therapies to ``prevent future illness from occurring or to maintain health and vitality.'' The other 42% used nonconventional therapies to combat existing illnesses; usually chronic conditions such as headache, back problems, anxiety or depression.

In 1997, as in 1991, less than 4 in 10 patients reported that they informed their doctors of their use of alternative treatments, however. This lack of communication can be dangerous, the authors explain, since interactions between alternative and conventional medications can cause patients serious harm. The researchers believe that US doctors and their patients all too often approach the use of alternative therapies with a ``'don't ask and don't tell,''' attitude. This potentially harmful attitude ``needs to be abandoned,'' they write.

In a commentary, Dr. Wayne Jonas of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, says he believes ``the increasing popularity of complementary and alternative medicine... reflects changing needs and values in modern society in general.'' According to Jonas, those changes include an increasing societal skepticism toward traditional medicine, widening public access to health information, and a general rise in interest in spiritual matters.

Jonas believes that, while many nonconventional therapies can effectively improve patient health, others remain little more than 'quackery.' Only controlled, scientific research can help patients and doctors distinguish between the two, he said.

Two JAMA editors, Drs. Phil Fontanarosa and George Lundberg, agree. In fact, they write that ``there is no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data or unproven medicine, for which scientific evidence is lacking.''

SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association 1998;280:1569-1575, 1616-1618, 1618-1619.