Cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine: a Hong Kong survey

Abstract

Background: This article reports a survey conducted in Hong Kong on the cancer patients' attitudes towards Chinese medicine treatment.

Methods: Cancer patients from three Chinese medicine clinics and one oncology clinic were interviewed with a structured questionnaire.

Results: Of a total of 786 participants included in the study, 42.9% used Western medicine only; 57.1% used at least one form of Chinese medicine; 5 participants used Chinese medicine only; and 56.5% used Chinese medicine before/during/after Western medicine treatment. Commonly used Western medicine and Chinese medicine treatments included chemotherapy (63.7%), radiotherapy (62.0%), surgery (57.6%), Chinese herbal medicine (53.9%) and Chinese dietary therapy (9.5%). Participants receiving chemotherapy used Chinese medicine (63.3%) more than those receiving any other Western medicine treatments. Spearman correlation coefficients showed that the selection of Chinese medicine was associated with the cancer type (r(s)= -1.36; P < 0.001), stage (r(s)= 0.178; P < 0.001), duration (r(s)= -0.074; P = 0.037), whether receiving chemotherapy (r(s)= 0.165; P < 0.001) and palliative therapy (r(s)= 0.087; P = 0.015). Nearly two-thirds of the participants (N = 274) did not tell their physicians about using Chinese medicine. Over two-thirds of all participants (68.2%) believed that integrated Chinese and Western medicine was effective.

Conclusion: Chinese medicine is commonly used among Hong Kong cancer patients. The interviewed cancer patients in Hong Kong considered integrative Chinese and Western medicine is an effective cancer treatment.

Figure 1

Summary of factors contributing to patients' preferences towards cancer treatments.

Figure 2

Patients' intention in the use of Chinese medicine, Western medicine or integrative Chinese and Western treatment in the future (N = 786).

Figure 3

Patients' satisfaction with their current treatment and the factors affecting their satisfaction levels. Data are presented as the actual number of patients (percentage in that group).