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Electronic Letters to:
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eLetters: Electronic letters published:
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Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Persons With Diabetes Mellitus
- Shamika Ketkar (15 January 2003)
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Shamika Ketkar, Graduate Student Washington University School of Medicine
Send letter to journal:
sketkar{at}wubios.wustl.edu Shamika Ketkar
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Dear Editor, I read with interest the article on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Persons with Diabetes Mellitus published by Yeh et al. The study is based on a nationally representative telephone survey of English speaking respondents who are 18 years or older. The study concluded that the prevalence of CAM therapy use among persons with diabetes is comparable to that among the general population; however the use of CAM therapies specifically to treat diabetes is much less common than in other chronic disorders. The study is based on a small sample that may be technically representative of the general population of the US, but the demographics show that it fails to capture people with juvenile diabetes, ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, or those without phones. These lacks may significantly bias the estimates of CAM use. The discussion section of the article quotes studies of Fairfield et al, Wolsko et al. and Kessler et al. regarding the condition specific use of CAM, present study however does not state whether the respondents who reported use of CAM to treat diabetes were given a clear definition of “condition specific” use during the data collection. For reader’s ease some basic information should have been included in the article such as a brief description of the telephonic questionnaire; time of the day the calls were made, if they were made for a specific area code and how long the average interviews were. The study found that there is a modest use of commercial diet programs for weight loss or gain, but the article does not discuss obesity and other common related factors for diabetes, see Table 1 Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Respondents. The authors also do not clarify why they chose certain things as CAM and left out others. This letter is to suggest some changes for the improvement of future studies. REFRENCES Gloria Y. Yeh, MPH, David M. Eisenberg, Roger B. Davis and Russell S. Phillips. Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Persons With Diabetes Mellitus: Results of a National Survey. Am J Pub Helth, October 2002, Vol 92, No. 10 | 1648-1652 Wolsko PM, Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Phillips RS. Patterns of care and perceived helpfulness of care for treatment of back and neck pain: results of a national survey of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Altern Ther Health Med. 2001;7:S37–S38. Kessler RC, Soukup J, Davis RB, et al. The use of complementary and alternative therapies to treat anxiety and depression in the United States. Am J Psychiatry. 2001;158:289–294 |
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