title: Trends in use of and attitudes held towards alternative and complementary medicine among patients treated in a Department of Medical Oncology in Serbia. A several-years-apart time survey study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of concurrent use and attitude towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by patients undergoing conventional therapy with anticancer agents at the National Cancer Center of Serbia (IORS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample comprised 300 subjects undergoing chemotherapy at the Medical Oncology Department of IORS. For the purposes of this research we constructed a special questionnaire with clearly defined questions. The research was carried out in 1993, in 2000 and in 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of patients who used CAM was over 50% in all 3 time periods. In 1993 and in 2000, 10% of the patients stated that their treating physicians were the ones who suggested using CAM, whereas this percentage rose to 30% in the 2008 survey (p<0.001). Most of the patients used CAM after recommendation by their family members or close friends. Patients believed that CAM would strengthen their immunity (this finding remained almost the same in all time periods, i.e. approximately 65%). Up to one third of CAM users believed that CAM will cure their malignant disease, whereas most of the patients expected better effects of the standard treatment if aided by CAM (p=0.012). The monthly expenditure for CAM was approximately €100.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study may help oncologists to recognize features of CAM methods and understand why patients use them. Timely patient information about the disease and the treatment options will increase confidence in conventional therapies.
authors: Department of Education and Rehabilitation, Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors: Svetlana
authors: S
authors: Berat
authors: Sinisa
authors: S
authors: Radulovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D055771:Serbia