ArticleThe European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care2012
Patients whose GP knows complementary medicine tend to have lower costs and live longer.
Article in The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mind-body practices: an alternative, drug-free treatment for smoking cessation? A systematic review of the literature.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2013Pooled it
- Use of traditional medicine for hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia measured in 71 surveys.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
- Predictors of the intention to use integrative medicine in psychiatric hospitals.Integrative medicine research · 2025Article
- A review of the WHO strategy on traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine from the perspective of academic consortia for integrative medicine and health.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Acupuncture in the Treatment of a Series of Patients with Chronic Pain Associated with Hip Osteoarthritis.Revista brasileira de ortopedia · 2023Article
- Cost analysis in a Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine unit in Brazil.Revista de saude publica · 2020Article
- Physician Attitudes and Perceptions of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): A Multicentre Italian Study.Frontiers in oncology · 2020Article
- Investigating the sociodemographic profile and health-related outcomes of chronically ill homeopathic patients: results from an observational multi-centered study in Bulgaria.BMC public health · 2019Observational
- Contributing to Global Health: Development of a Consensus-Based Whole Systems Research Strategy for Anthroposophic Medicine.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- When Giants Meet-a Discourse on Contemporary and Alternative Therapy Use from an Ethical Perspective.Asian bioethics review · 2018Article
- Herbal fertility treatments used in North America from colonial times to 1900, and their potential for improving the success rate of assisted reproductive technology.Reproductive biomedicine & society online · 2018Article
- The preventive effect on respiratory tract infections of OscillococcinumClinicoEconomics and outcomes research : CEOR · 2018Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and practices among health care providers regarding complementary and alternative medicine in Trinidad and Tobago.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Article
- Whole Medical Systems versus the System of Conventional Biomedicine: A Critical, Narrative Review of Similarities, Differences, and Factors That Promote the Integration Process.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2017Review
- Homeopathic medical practice for anxiety and depression in primary care: the EPI3 cohort study.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2016Observational
- Differences between Practice Patterns of Conventional and Naturopathic GPs in Germany.PloS one · 2016Article
- Economic impact of homeopathic practice in general medicine in France.Health economics review · 2015Article
- Usage and cost of first-line drugs for patients referred to inpatient anthroposophic integrative care or inpatient conventional care for stress-related mental disorders--a register based study.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2015Article
- Neuropsychiatric symptoms and expenditure on complementary and alternative medicine.The Journal of clinical psychiatry · 2015Article
- Substitutes or complements? Diagnosis and treatment with non-conventional and conventional medicine.International journal of health policy and management · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth economists have largely ignored complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as an area of research, although both clinical experiences and several empirical studies suggest cost-effectiveness of CAM.
objectiveTo explore the cost-effectiveness of CAM compared with conventional medicine.
methodsA dataset from a Dutch health insurer was used containing quarterly information on healthcare costs (care by general practitioner (GP), hospital care, pharmaceutical care, and paramedic care), dates of birth and death, gender and 6-digit postcode of all approximately 150,000 insurees, for the years 2006-2009. Data from 1913 conventional GPs were compared with data from 79 GPs with additional CAM training in acupuncture (25), homeopathy (28), and anthroposophic medicine (26).
resultsPatients whose GP has additional CAM training have 0-30% lower healthcare costs and mortality rates, depending on age groups and type of CAM. The lower costs result from fewer hospital stays and fewer prescription drugs. DISCUSSION: Since the differences are obtained while controlling for confounders including neighborhood specific fixed effects at a highly detailed level, the lower costs and longer lives are unlikely to be related to differences in socioeconomic status. Possible explanations include selection (e.g. people with a low taste for medical interventions might be more likely to choose CAM) and better practices (e.g. less overtreatment, more focus on preventive and curative health promotion) by GPs with knowledge of complementary medicine. More controlled studies (replication studies, research based on more comprehensive data, cost-effectiveness studies on CAM for specific diagnostic categories) are indicated.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.