ArticlePloS one2020
Crowdfunding for complementary and alternative medicine: What are cancer patients seeking?
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Oncology: A Concise Review of Utilization, Evidence, and Integration Challenges.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Review
- Article
- "…When it came to sensitive information, we made edits, and we took it back": qualitatively exploring the role responsibilities taken on by Canadians who crowdfund on behalf of someone else from a privacy perspective.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- GoFundMe®: Crowdfunding Among Young Adult Patients With Cancer.Clinical journal of oncology nursing · 2025Article
- Medical crowdfunding for cancer patients seeking fertility treatments: a cross-sectional analysis.F&S reports · 2025Article
- Selling Misleading "Cancer Cure" Books on Amazon: Systematic Search on Amazon.com and Thematic Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Crowdfunding for Complementary and Alternative Cancer Treatments in Tijuana, Mexico: Content Analysis.JMIR cancer · 2024Article
- Source credibility: a necessary North Star in cancer care.BJC reports · 2024Article
- 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
- Alternative cancer clinics' use of Google listings and reviews to mislead potential patients.BJC reports · 2024Article
- Article
- The Use of Medical Crowdfunding to Mitigate the Personal Costs of Serious Chronic Illness: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Advertising Alternative Cancer Treatments and Approaches on Meta Social Media Platforms: Content Analysis.JMIR infodemiology · 2023Article
- International medical tourism of US cancer patients for alternative cancer treatments: Financial, demographic, and clinical profiles of online crowdfunding campaigns.Cancer medicine · 2023Article
- The Success of Cancer Crowdfunding Campaigns: Project and Text Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Timing and Motivations for Alternative Cancer Therapy With Insights From a Crowdfunding Platform: Cross-sectional Mixed Methods Study.JMIR cancer · 2022Article
- An overview of Fintech applications to solve the puzzle of health care funding: state-of-the-art in medical crowdfunding.Financial innovation · 2022Article
- What are the informational pathways that shape people's use of cannabidiol for medical purposes?Journal of cannabis research · 2021Article
- A Pilot Study of Medical Misinformation Perceptions and Training Among Practitioners in North Carolina (USA).Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundComplementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly being integrated into conventional medical care for cancer, used to counter the side effects of conventional cancer treatment, and offered as an alternative to conventional cancer care. Our aim is to gain a broader understanding of trends in CAM interventions for cancer and crowdfunding campaigns for these interventions.
methodsGoFundMe campaigns fundraising for CAM were retrieved through a database of crowdfunding campaign data. Search terms were drawn from two National Institutes of Health lists of CAM cancer interventions and a previous study. Campaigns were excluded that did not match these or related search terms or were initiated outside of June 4th, 2018 to June 4th, 2019.
results1,396 campaigns were identified from the US (n = 1,037, 73.9%), Canada (n = 165, 11.8%), and the UK (n = 107, 7.7%). Most common cancer types were breast (n = 344, 24.6%), colorectal (n = 131, 9.4%), and brain (n = 98, 7.0%). CAM interventions sought included supplements (n = 422, 30.2%), better nutrition (n = 293, 21.0%), high dose vitamin C (n = 276, 19.8%), naturopathy (n = 226, 16.2%), and cannabis products (n = 211, 15.1%). Mexico (n = 198, 41.9%), and the US (n = 169, 35.7%) were the most common treatment destinations.
conclusionsThese findings confirm active and ongoing interest in using crowdfunding platforms to finance CAM cancer interventions. They confirm previous findings that CAM users with cancer tend to have late stage cancers, cancers with high mortality rates, and specific diseases such as breast cancer. These findings can inform targeted responses where facilities engage in misleading marketing practices and the efficacy of interventions is unproven.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.