Positive Health Online

Abstract

BUSATO and co-workers, Clinical Epidemiology and HTA, University of Bern, Institute for Evaluative Research in Orthopaedic Surgery, Bern, Switzerland, andre.busato@memcenter.unibe.ch, have compared patients in conventional and complementary medicine.

Background

The aim of the study was to study patient health status with respect to demographic attributes such as gender, age, and health care utilisation pattern, and to compare it with conventional primary care.

Methodology

The study was part of a nationwide evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in primary care in Switzerland. It was performed as a cross-sectional survey including 11932 adult patients seeking complementary or conventional primary care. Patients were asked to document their self-perceived health status by completing a questionnaire in the waiting room. Physicians were performing conventional medicine and/or various forms of complementary primary care such as homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine, neural therapy, herbal medicine, or traditional Chinese medicine. Additional information on patient demographics and yearly consultation rates for participating physicians was obtained from the data pool of all Swiss health insurers. These data were used to confirm the survey results.

Results

Considerable and significant differences were observed. Patients seeking complementary care documented longer lasting and more severe main health problems than patients in conventional care. The number of previous physician visits differed between patient groups, which indicates higher consumption of medical resources by CAM patients.

Conclusion

The study supports the hypothesis that there are differences in socio-demographic and behavioural attributes of patients seeking conventional medicine or CAM in primary care. It provides empirical evidence that CAM users are requiring more physician-based medical services in primary care than users of conventional medicine.

References

Busato A, Donges A, Herren S, Widmer M, Marian F. Health status and health care utilisation of patients in complementary and conventional primary care in Switzerland—an observational studyy. Family Practice 23 (1): 116-124, Feb 2006.

Comment

This study compares the demographics of patients using CAM and conventional medicine. The results state that CAM treatment is sought more often by people with more severe health problems who are possibly disappointed with the lack of efficient treatments that conventional medicine offers for their conditions.