Minneapolis—While customers primarily purchasing herbs or supplements from a pharmacy or elsewhere are a bit more likely to tell their physicians than those practicing yoga or meditation, many patients don’t disclose use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new research letter. The report, published online recently by JAMA Internal Medicine, notes that, although they fear disapproval, patients say they want their primary care physicians to inquire about CAM but that PCPs rarely initiate conversations about the topic. According to the researchers from the University of Minnesota, of the 34?525 adults who completed the CAM supplement to the 2012 National Center for Health Statistics, 29.6% reported using CAM at least once in the past year, and 66.3% had a primary care physician. Of 7,493 respondents who fit both criteria, however, 42.3% did not disclose the use of their most frequent CAM modality. Nondisclosure was least common among those using herbs and/or supplements, 24.9%, and acupuncture, 35.5%, according to the report.

« Click here to return to The MTM Review.