title: National survey of China's oncologists' knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice patterns on complementary and alternative medicine.
abstract: It is common for cancer patients to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This study was designed to explore China's oncologists' knowledge, attitudes and clinical practices regarding CAM use by their patients. An online survey was conducted of China's oncologists. Among 11,270 participants who completed the online survey, 6,007 (53.3%) were identified as oncologists. Most were men (75.2%), with a mean age of 33.4 (standard deviation: 6.5) years. The 6,007 oncologists discussed with 36.5% of their patients about CAM. Most of them (75.6%) did not want to initiate discussions due to lack of knowledge on CAM. Oncologists estimated that 40.0% of their patients used CAM treatments. Oncologists reported that 28.7% of their patients underwent anticancer therapy with the concurrent use of CAM. Four out of five of the responding oncologists self-reported inadequate knowledge and only 22.0% reported receiving professional education on CAM. Nearly half (44.9%) of the oncologists believed CAM treatment was effective for symptoms and treatment of cancer. Physician factors associated with initiating discussions with patients about CAM use included sex, age (≥ 33 years), medical license for traditional Chinese medicine, enough knowledge and professional education experience. China's oncologists infrequently discussed with their patients about CAM due to lack of knowledge. Most of the oncologists did not encourage CAM use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Oncology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Geliang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Oncology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Huiqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Oncology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Peiying
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Oncology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Changquan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ling
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: attitudes; complementary and alternative medicine; knowledge; national survey; oncologists