werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (10/01/85)
[1. Hi: it October, I'm back] [2. I was actually suprised by the following, which among other things, shows that people are more likely to be satisfied with conventional medicine than with alternative methods. The rationale for the study was to see if people seeking alternative therapy were doing so out of dissatisfaction with conventional, or just out of, shall we say, a sense of adventure. The conclusion of the paper is that dissatisfaction is not the main motive, although that fact is not fully explained in the abstract below.] Abstract from: Med Journal of Australia Are Patients Who Use Alternative Medicine Dissatisfied With Orthodox Medicine? [Note: abstracts are not normally in tabular form. I am responsible for turning the sentences into tables. Other than that, no changes have been made] Approximately 45% of asthmatic families and 47% of non-asthmatic families had consulted an alternative medicine practitioner at some time. These were Chiropractic 21.1 and 26.4% respectively Homeo/Naturo-pathy 18.8 and 12.7% Acupuncture 9.4 and 10.9% Herbal Medicine 4.7 and 0.7% Other 20.3 and 11.8% Other including Iridology, Osteopathy, Hypnosis, Faith Healing and Megavitamins therapy. More familes were satisfied with ORTHODOX [my emphasis] Medicine. Satisfied with Orthodox 87.1 and 93.6% Satisfied with Alternative 84.2 and 75.1% Corss-tabulation analysis of pooled data both from asthma and non-asthma groups showed that: Satisfied with both 76.4% Satisfied with Orthodox Only 16.4% Satisfied with Alternative Only 2.7% (x2=9.33, p<.01) These finding do not support the view that patients who use alternative medicine are those who are disgruntled with orthodox medicine. William J. Donnelly, BMedSc (1985;142:539-541) -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"