Analysis of Toxic Effects With Antiangiogenic Agents Plus Stereotactic Body Radiation in Ultracentral Lung Tumors

special diets (29 of 1023, 2.9%), acupuncture (26 of 1023, 2.0%), homeopathy (15 of 1023, 1.5%), movement or exercise techniques (11 of 1023, 1.3%), naturopathy (7 of 1023, 0.6%), traditional healers (6 of 1023, 0.4%), energy healing therapy (5 of 1023, 0.6%), biofeedback (5 of 1023, 0.4%), hypnosis (4 of 1023, 0.5%), and craniosacral therapy (2 of 1023, 0.2%).Factors associated with CAM use included white race (AOR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.28-2.58;P = .001),female sex (AOR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.26-1.91;P < .001),non-Hispanic ethnicity (AOR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.05-2.56;P = .03),and younger age (AOR, 1.02 per year; 95% CI, 1.01-1.02;P < .001)(Table 1).Among 1023 participants using CAM, 288 (29.3%) did not disclose CAM use to their physicians.The adjusted rates of nondisclosure for those using herbal supplements was 11.8% and 58.2% for those using mantra/mindfulness/spiritual meditation (Table 2).The most frequently reported reasons for nondisclosure were because the physician did not ask (n = 155 of 288; 57.4%) or participants did not think their physicians needed to know (n = 140 of 288; 47.4%).A smaller proportion of CAM users felt that their physician did not know as much about the therapy (n = 28 of 288; 8.5%), reported they were not given enough time to tell about therapy (n = 12 of 288; 5.7%), expressed concern about a negative reaction (n = 17 of 288; 3.9%), were worried that their physician would discourage use (n = 18 of 288; 3.6%), or reported that physicians discouraged use in the past (n = 11 of 288; 1.9%).When the cohort was restricted to 812 patients with cancer diagnosed up to 2 years prior to survey administration, 271 (33.4%) reported CAM use, including 231 (28.5%) who did not disclose CAM use to their physician.Discussion | In this comprehensive national study, 1023 of 3118 (33.3%) participants with a history of cancer reported CAM use in the past year, 288 (29.3%) of whom did not disclose use of CAM to their physician.Individuals diagnosed with cancer may have many motivations for seeking CAM, including persistent symptoms, psychological distress, or to gain a sense of control over their care. 6 Given the high proportion of patients with cancer and cancer survivors reporting use of CAM in this nationally representative sample, the potential implications of CAM use on oncologic outcomes merits further study.Policy and guidelines should be established to encourage discussion of CAM.Data for this study were collected in 2012; however, this time frame is within those available from other nationwide databases.The NHIS is a US database, thus our results may not be generalizable to international populations.