Recently, JAMA published an article saying that "complementary alternative medicine", including traditional Chinese medicine, has increased the mortality rate of cancer patients. Such a bold exposition immediately attracted many discussions.

Don't leave a message saying "Ha! I said that Chinese medicine is useless! " Or, "This is all a fake study in which the West looks down on the ancient oriental medicine", to help you sum up the key point of this study: the study does not mean that the auxiliary alternative medicine, including Chinese medicine, is "ineffective", but that if a person receives the treatment of alternative medicine, he is more likely to refuse the treatment of modern medicine, which will lead to delayed treatment and increase the mortality rate.

Do you see the difference between the two? The key is that alternative medicine "delays the disease" rather than "has no effect".

Jobs is an example of using alternative therapy to delay his illness.

Let me give you an example. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, died of complications of pancreatic cancer, but his condition was actually discovered at a very early stage. It's just that Jobs said, "I don't want my body to be cut open, I don't want to be violated like this" and refused treatment. He turned to alternative medicine, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, diet therapy and other alternative therapies, and even invited a psychic (of course, I am afraid that psychics have gone beyond the scope of alternative therapies), so he dragged on his illness for nine months. Finally, the tumor expanded and metastasized, and it was too late to treat it.

What is complementary alternative medicine?

Back to this study, we need to know what "CAM" is. CAM refers to any medical means that claims to produce medical effects and improve the cure rate of diseases, but it does not come from scientific methods to collect evidence. Contrary to complementary alternative medicine, conventional modern medical therapy (CCT) is generally recognized as "seeing a doctor". Traditional modern medical treatment needs strict clinical experiments to confirm the curative effect.

Auxiliary alternative medicine in cancer treatment

At present, there are quite a variety of auxiliary alternative medicine therapies for cancer treatment, including plant herbs, vitamins and minerals, traditional Chinese medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, acupuncture, homeopathy, physical therapy, natural therapy, probiotics, Ayurvedic medicine and special diet therapy.

In addition to treating diseases, patients also hope to improve their quality of life by supplementing alternative medicine. It is estimated that 48%- 88% of cancer patients will use complementary alternative medicine as a supplement to conventional treatment.

Comparison of two types of patients

In this study, the researchers compared the survival rate of cancer patients who only received modern medical treatment with those who received complementary alternative medical treatment plus at least one modern medical treatment, and the compliance of these two types of patients with treatment.

The study used data from nearly 2 million patients in the American National Cancer Database, who were diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer or colorectal cancer between 2004 and 20 13 years. All patients have received at least one routine modern medical treatment, such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

On this premise, the patients were divided into group A and group B. In group A, besides the routine modern medical treatment, patients also used other unconfirmed auxiliary alternative medical treatment implemented by non-medical personnel. Patients in group B only received modern medical treatment from beginning to end.

Assisting alternative medicine to delay treatment has a higher risk of death.

After summarizing the data, the researchers found that complementary alternative medicine reduced the 5-year survival rate of patients and brought a higher risk of death. The increased risk of death caused by supplementary alternative medicine is largely due to patients refusing treatment and delaying treatment. The factor of "refusing treatment" is the main reason for the increased death risk of patients in the auxiliary alternative medicine group. If there is no treatment refusal factor, auxiliary alternative medicine itself will not lead to an increase in the risk of death (so don't worry and get angry with TCM supporters! )。

Therefore, the conclusion of the study, as we mentioned above, is that a person who has received alternative medical treatment is more likely to refuse modern medical treatment, resulting in delayed treatment and increased mortality.

The higher the social and economic status, the easier it is to become an Olympic patient.

There is another bright spot in this research, which subverts our established imagination. We generally believe that the elders who will accept complementary alternative medical therapy and reject modern medical therapy should be those with low education and buy whatever the underground radio station says is effective; Or poor social and economic conditions, leading to poor information circulation.

However, the research results are just the opposite! In this American study, people with higher education, more insurance, better social and economic status and younger people are more inclined to receive alternative medical treatment.

Professional division of labor: let people who know help you treat diseases.

Having said so much, it all boils down to one word. At least, the doctors of modern medicine have lived for 10 years before they can stand here and treat you. They won't treat you as a pleasure, and modern medical care is also a method that has been proved to be effective for most people at present. Don't be so stubborn and refuse treatment.

Even if you want to try alternative therapy, you can discuss it with your doctor. For example, TCM health care in the Chinese world is also an alternative therapy, but it is adopted by many patients and even doctors. Instead of listening to online rumors, it is better to fully communicate with doctors and ask them to help you judge and solve professional problems.