Call for improved evidence base for complementary medicine in UK
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the UK is under-researched and access to it is unequal, suggest the authors of an article in the Journal
of Medical Ethics.
Led by Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula
Medical School, Exeter, the authors point out that around one in five
people in the UK uses complementary medicine. However, most users pay
privately for CAM, leading to unequal distribution of these therapies
among the population.
The authors believe that widespread use of CAM, which in many cases is
untested, may put patients at risk. They suggest that adequate research
funds must be made available to rectify this. The authors acknowledge
that many CAM therapies are underpinned by philosophies that challenge
orthodox medical perspectives, but say that there are no reasons why
rigorous research cannot be undertaken (published online as a PDF file
(75K)).
Meanwhile, US researchers have also called for the standards of evidence-based
medicine to be applied to CAM. They suggest that placebo-controlled trials
of CAM treatments are ethically justified and that the arguments that
such trials are not appropriate lack merit (JAMA 2004;291:599). |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal