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. 2022 Jan 14;58(1):125.
doi: 10.3390/medicina58010125.

Information Survey on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Marco Paoloni  1 , Francesco Agostini  1 , Sergio Bernasconi  2 , Gianni Bona  3 , Carlo Cisari  3 , Massimo Fioranelli  4 , Marco Invernizzi  3   5 , Antonello Madeo  6 , Marco Matucci-Cerinic  7 , Alberto Migliore  8 , Nicola Quirino  9 , Carlo Ventura  10 , Roberto Viganò  11 , Andrea Bernetti  1
Affiliations

Information Survey on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Marco Paoloni et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) are generally considered non-scientific and poor effective therapies. Nevertheless, CAMs are extensively used in common clinical practice in Western countries. We decided to promote a Delphi consensus to intercept the opinion of Italian physicians on CAM use in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: We run a Delphi-based consensus, interviewing anonymously 97 physicians. Of these, only 78 participate to the questionnaire. Results: Consensus about agreement and disagreement have been reached in several topics, including indication, as well as safety issues concerning CAMs. Conclusions: The use of CAMs in clinical practice still lacks evidence. Experts agree about the possibility to safely use CAMs in combination with conventional medicines to treat non-critical medical conditions.

Keywords: Chinese medicine; Delphi consensus; acupuncture; homeopathy; osteopathy; phytotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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