Self-reported use of complementary and alternative medicine therapies in a reflexology randomized clinical trial
Gwen Wyatt1, Alla Sikorskii, Mei You
1College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. gwyatt@msu.edu
Background:
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), about one-third of American cancer patients have used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Objective:
The objective of this secondary analysis was an assessment of the use of other CAM by women with advanced breast cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy and who participated in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) studying the safety and efficacy of reflexology. For this secondary analysis, the research team hypothesized an increased CAM use due to exposure to the reflexology trial.
Methods/Design:
For this secondary analysis, the team conducted telephone interviews at baseline, wk 5, and wk 11 to assess the use of 23 common CAM therapies.
Setting:
The study took place at 14 medical oncology clinics across the Midwestern United States.
Participants:
Participants included women with advanced breast cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy.
Intervention:
In the study related to this secondary analysis, the research team randomly assigned the women to one of three primary groups: (1) reflexology; (2) lay foot manipulation (LFM); and (3) control. In addition, the research team used two test groups to establish the study's protocol: (1) test reflexology and (2) test LFM. For this secondary analysis, the research team considered the two reflexology groups (test and intervention) and the two LFM groups (test and intervention) to be the active groups, comparing their use of CAM to the control group's use at the selected time points.
Primary Outcome Measures:
The research team used a linear, mixed-effects model to analyze the number of therapies used at the three time points. The team performed t tests to compare therapy use at baseline for those women who completed the study vs those who dropped out. The team used the CAM-use instrument.
Results:
In total, 385 women participated. The research team found no differences in CAM use for the active groups vs the control group over time or in those women who stayed in the study vs those who dropped out. The team found an increase in CAM use at wk 5 compared to baseline, followed by a decrease at wk 11; however, the time trends were the same in the active groups and the control group
Conclusions:
In women with advanced breast cancer, researchers can rely upon one assessment of CAM use during an RCT of a CAM therapy.
