Symptom clusters associated with complementary and alternative medicine use by cancer patients: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a commonly used approach among cancer patients, with a reported prevalence of 14.8 to 73.1% depending on multiple factors. Even though a typical patient-reported reason for using CAM is symptom control, no conclusive evidence could be established for specific symptoms being a predictor for CAM use. Symptom clusters are a novel approach for assessing a multidimensional symptom burden, reflecting the impact of diseases on the patient's quality of life and considering the tendency of symptoms to occur in groups.

Material and methods

A single-center cross-sectional study on cancer patients during oncological or palliative care was conducted to identify socio-demographical and clinical characteristics, including symptom c

SUBMITTER: Huemer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10721086 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature