Complementary medicine. Searching for the evidence

Abstract

Background: Complementary and alternative medicines form significant parts of the health economy and are therefore increasingly scrutinised by consumers, clinicians and scientists, all of whom have an interest in understanding what works and what is safe.

Objective: To examine issues relevant to the evidence based assessment of complementary and alternative medicines.

Discussion: There are a large number of systematic reviews on complementary and alternative practices and many hundreds more randomised, controlled trials which form a growing body of original research. However, given the extensive nature of the discipline, and the difficulty in performing rigorous trials, appropriate clinical trial evidence is still required for many of these interventions. On the other hand, consumers are using these medicines and seem unlikely to rely on positive clinical trials to be convinced of the potential effectiveness and relative safety of a medicine with a long tradition.