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Complimentary medicines are used together with conventional medicine, like acupuncture and in addition to usual care to reduce discomfort. Herbs, traditional Chinese medicine, special diets, naturopathy, and homeopathy are used for treating different illnesses. Some complementary medicines may improve some cancers. Complementary medicine is used alongside conventional treatment.
Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT took data from the National Cancer Database. The participants had breast, lung, prostate, or colorectal cancer that had not metastasized. They compared 258 patients who used complementary medicine with 1,032 who did not. Patients were matched for age and cancer stage.
Mortality risk was mediated by the refusal of conventional cancer treatment. The use of complementary medicine was associated with a two fold greater risk of death compared with patients who had no complementary medicine use. Using alternative medicine in the place of standard treatments increases the risk of death.