Praying correlates with higher quality of life: results from a survey on complementary/alternative medicine use among a group of Brazilian cancer patients.
BACKGROUND
The use of complementary/alternative medicine has been little studied in Brazil.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of complementary/alternative medicine use among a group of Brazilian cancer patients and correlate these findings with the patients' quality of life.


METHODS
Descriptive.


METHODS
Oncology Institute of the Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil.


METHODS
100 cancer patients.


METHODS
The EORTC QLQ C-30 quality of life questionnaire was applied together with another questionnaire on the use of complementary/alternative medicine.


METHODS
Use of complementary/alternative medicine and quality of life.


RESULTS
89% of the patients had already used complementary/alternative medicine, 63% were currently using it and most of them (77.7%) believed in the efficacy of complementary/alternative medicine for their treatment. The type most used was individual prayer (77.5%). We found a significant association between believing in the efficacy of complementary/alternative medicine and praying (individually or in groups), in comparison with better scores on the functional (p = 0.001) and overall health (p = 0.001) quality of life scales. Multivariate analysis confirmed these findings regarding praying and also showed that believing in complementary/alternative medicine correlated significantly with functional and symptom quality of life scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of complementary/alternative medicine use in this group of cancer patients was high. Praying and belief in the efficacy of complementary/alternative medicine correlated significantly with an overall better quality of life, and therefore these practices should not be discouraged by physicians. New prospective studies should be conducted in order to better characterize the efficacy of such alternative therapeutic approaches.
Samano
Eliana Sueco Tibana
ES
Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil.
Goldenstein
Patricia Taschner
PT
Ribeiro
Lia de Melo
Lde M
Lewin
Fabio
F
Filho
Edgar Santiago Valesin
ES
Soares
Heloisa Prado
HP
del Giglio
Auro
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality