Shopping for nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine on the Internet: how much money might cancer patients be spending online?
BACKGROUND
How much money might cancer patients be spending on-line for nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine therapies? This question is relevant because over $34 billion per year is spent on complementary and alternative medicine in the United States, and the Internet has facilitated the acquisition of such therapies.


METHODS
We therefore conducted a "patient simulation exercise" in which the Internet was surfed for nutrition-based therapies, which were touted as therapeutic or palliative in the cancer setting. Monthly costs for each agent were calculated. Agents with clinical evidence of efficacy were excluded.


RESULTS
A search of 2,500 Web sites and related pages revealed a total of 16 different products. The monthly cost of each ranged from to $4.33 to $263.00. The median cost of a single agent was $27.00 per month.


CONCLUSIONS
This study emphasizes the need for health care providers to undertake with cancer patients a comprehensive discussion of therapeutic options--including those relevant to nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine. A compassionate discussion of patients' out-of-pocket costs should be an integral part of that discussion and should be emphasized as an important dimension of patient education efforts.
Alsawaf
Mohammad Anas
MA
University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Jatoi
Aminah
A
D002755:Choice Behavior; D003132:Commerce; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000178:diet therapy*; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D014481:United States