Alternative medicine use continues

BOSTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Harvard Medical School experts, analyzing the use of complementary and alternative medicine, say one in three U.S. adults use at least one form.

The researchers compared data for 1997 and 2002 and found 36.5 percent of the adults used one of the two forms in 1997, compared to 35 percent in 2002.

The continued widespread use of individual and multiple CAM therapies underscores the need to rigorously evaluate the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these approaches, say the study's authors.

The study results appear in the January/February issue of the medical journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

"While there have been a few notable changes in which CAM therapies people are using, the overall number of adults employing some type of CAM has remained remarkably consistent since we began our surveys in 1990," said Dr. David Eisenberg.

"This says to us that these therapies are part of the fabric of modern day health care, and that we need to do more research on their safety and effectiveness -- just as we would with any other therapeutic options."