ReviewMedical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre2017
Economic Evaluation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Oncology: Is There a Difference Compared to Conventional Medicine?
Review in Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Cost-effectiveness of integrative oncology for sustainable and patient-centred cancer care: a systematic review in the context of the WHO global traditional medicine strategy 2025-2034.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Using Integrative Therapies to Improve Patient-Reported Outcomes in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Living Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2025Guideline
- Do complementary and integrative medicine therapies reduce healthcare utilization among oncology patients? A systematic review of the literature and recommendations.European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society · 2018Pooled it
- Yoga intervention on the fatigue-pain-sleep disturbance symptom cluster for breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy: a pilot randomized controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Trial
- Correlates and patterns of using complementary health approaches among individuals with recent and longer-term cancer diagnoses: a US national cross-sectional study.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- Review
- Pharmacoeconomic evaluation of treatments for Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2024Article
- Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Patients with Primary Immunodeficiency: a Multicentric Analysis of 101 Patients.Journal of clinical immunology · 2021Article
- Effect of ballroom dancing on the well-being of cancer patients: Report of a pilot project.Molecular and clinical oncology · 2018Article
- Integrative Oncology: International Perspectives.Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
- Exploring the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Patients.Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
- Integrative Oncology: An International Perspective from Six Countries.Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
- Exploring the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Patients.Integrative cancer therapiesReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo analyze the financial burden of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in cancer treatment. MATERIALS AND
methodsBased on a systematic search of the literature (Medline and the Cochrane Library, combining the MeSH terms 'complementary therapies', 'neoplasms', 'costs', 'cost analysis', and 'cost-benefit analysis'), an expert panel discussed different types of analyses and their significance for CAM in oncology.
resultsOf 755 publications, 43 met our criteria. The types of economic analyses and their parameters discussed for CAM in oncology were cost, cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility analyses. Only a few articles included arguments in favor of or against these different methods, and only a few arguments were specific for CAM because most CAM methods address a broad range of treatment aim parameters to assess effectiveness and are hard to define. Additionally, the choice of comparative treatments is difficult. To evaluate utility, healthy subjects may not be adequate as patients with a life-threatening disease and may be judged differently, especially with respect to a holistic treatment approach. We did not find any arguments in the literature that were directed at the economic analysis of CAM in oncology. Therefore, a comprehensive approach assessment based on criteria from evidence-based medicine evaluating direct and indirect costs is recommended.
conclusionThe usual approaches to conventional medicine to assess costs, benefits, and effectiveness seem adequate in the field of CAM in oncology. Additionally, a thorough deliberation on the comparator, endpoints, and instruments is mandatory for designing studies.
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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.