Non-conventional medicine: prevalence in oncologic patients

Abstract

This research is about the prevalence of non-conventional medicine in 105 cancer outpatients from the Service of Clinical Oncology at University of Brasília Hospital surveyed by means of an interview between December 2000 and June 2001. Of the 105 participants, 63,81% used non-conventional therapies. Non-conventional medicine users were mostly white (p=0,856) young women (p=0,417), with breast cancer, who had not completed the elementary school, living in Distrito Federal (p=0,317) with satisfactory housing conditions. Use was greatest for herbs. Most patients used non-conventional therapies to cure cancer. Non-conventional medicine is discussed in this paper,focusing its prevalence in Oncology and its relation to nursing and ethics. It was addressed the precautions, risks and benefits of non-conventional medicine.