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Research: BARNES and colleagues,
Listed in Issue 50
Abstract
BARNES and colleagues, Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Exeter UK. jo.barnes@exeter.ac.uk studied the growth in interest in complementary and alternative medicine within the professional scientific community.
Background
Methodology
The authors performed systematic literature searches of MEDLINE in January 1998 for the period 1966 through 1996, using the expanded terms "alternative medicine ", "traditional medicine ", "acupuncture ", "homoeopathy " and "chiropractic ". The number of clinical trial-type articles was obtained by conducting searches for those having 1 or more of the following types: clinical trial; clinical trial phase 1, 2, 3, or 4; controlled clinical trial; meta-analysis; randomised controlled trial. The authors limited their searches to trials with human subjects.
Results
Published articles indexed as alternative medicine formed only 0.4% of the total number of MEDLINE-listed articles throughout the 30-year period studied. Whereas the total number of articles listed in MEDLINE rose significantly, reaching a peak of 40,000 additions per year in 1996, the number of articles indexed under alternative medicine rose steadily only from 1972 through 1986, remaining stable since then with about 1500 additions per year. The proportion of clinical trial articles on alternative medicine was low, (2.1% per year); however this rose significantly from 1986 through 1996, reaching about 10% of the total in 1996. The number of publications for Individual therapies varied; clinical trial articles formed only a small part of any increase.
Conclusion
Interest in and awareness of complementary medicine among orthodox health care professionals has grown during the past 30 years, as revealed by the increased number and proportion of reports of clinical trials. This suggests a trend toward an evidence-based approach; however, the cumulative number of clinical trial articles is small and more high-quality original research in complementary is required.
References
Barnes J et al. Articles on complementary medicine in the mainstream medical literature: an investigation of MEDLINE, 1966 through 1996. Archives of internal medicine 159(15): 1721-5. 9-23 Aug 1999.
