NEW YORK (Reuters Health)
- Despite significant improvements in anti-AIDS drugs, complementary and alternative
medicine (CAM) therapies are still widely used by HIV-infected individuals, a
new study shows.
``Until HIV infection is eradicated in patients, it seems
likely that patients will continue to use alternative medicine,'' write researchers
led by Dr. Joan Duggan of the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo.
Among
191 HIV-positive outpatients surveyed about their use of complementary and alternative
therapies, 67% said they had used alternative therapies at some point to control
their HIV infection and 40% reported current use. The findings appear in the current
issue of the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs.
The most common form of
complementary or alternative therapy used was simple exercise, followed by lifestyle
changes, dietary supplements, counseling, herbal medications, megavitamins and
prayer therapy.
Seventy-four percent of those surveyed were taking protease
inhibitor medication, while 15% were using HIV-suppressing drugs other than protease
inhibitors. Eleven percent did not use any anti-AIDS drugs.
Duggan's group
also noted that less than half of the patients said their physician knew of their
use of alternative therapies. Doctors recommend that patients report use of alternative
therapies to avoid therapeutic complications.
Of those patients who used
complementary or alternative therapies, 70% felt that it had improved their quality
of life, the researchers found. |
