Complementary medicine. Searching for the evidence.
BACKGROUND
Complementary and alternative medicines form significant parts of the health economy and are therefore increasingly scrutinised by consumers, clinicians and scientists, all of whom have an interest in understanding what works and what is safe.


OBJECTIVE
To examine issues relevant to the evidence based assessment of complementary and alternative medicines.


CONCLUSIONS
There are a large number of systematic reviews on complementary and alternative practices and many hundreds more randomised, controlled trials which form a growing body of original research. However, given the extensive nature of the discipline, and the difficulty in performing rigorous trials, appropriate clinical trial evidence is still required for many of these interventions. On the other hand, consumers are using these medicines and seem unlikely to rely on positive clinical trials to be convinced of the potential effectiveness and relative safety of a medicine with a long tradition.
Bensoussan
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Chinese Medicine Unit and Research Unit for Complementary Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Western Sydney, New South Wales.
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic