Attitudes of patients undergoing surgery toward alternative medical treatment

There has been an increased interest in complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies in the scientific literature and the popular press for the last decade. We undertook a survey study to assess the prevalence of CAM therapies in a surgical patient population as well as their interests toward CAM therapies during the preoperative period.

A total of 1000 questionnaires were administrated to the patients in the presurgical holding area of Yale-New Haven Hospital. A total of 857 surveys were returned (85.7%).

Two hundred and seventy-five (275) patients undergoing surgery (32%) reported having used CAM therapies. The most common CAM therapies in patients undergoing surgery were reported to be massage therapy (15.2%), followed by herb therapy (9.7%), relaxation (8.3%), and acupuncture (6.6%). A significant proportion of patients (42%) indicated their willingness to use acupuncture as a treatment modality for anxiety during the preoperative period. Those surgical patients who expressed an interest in using acupuncture as a preoperative anxiety treatment modality are younger than those who have no interest (47 +/- 16 vs. 53 +/- 19, p = 0.0001). In addition, those patients who used CAM therapies had a significant interest in using acupuncture as a preoperative anxiety treatment modality as compared to individuals who had no experience in CAM therapies (66.3% vs. 29.9%, p = 0.0001). A logistic regression model that included various demographics as predictors demonstrated that age and education level were significant factors that determined the use of CAM therapies in our surgical patients population. In our survey, however, gender does not play a significant role in the usage of CAM therapies.

Alternative medicine use is reported to be a common phenomenon prior to surgery. A significant number of patients are willing to accept acupuncture as treatment for anxiety during the preoperative period.