Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, by whatever name they are called, have existed from antiquity. Recognition of the widespread use of CAM by the people of the United States has given new emphasis to the need to better understand the effects of these treatments from the perspective of personal and public health. To provide a rational, effective, efficient, and personally satisfactory health care system, it is important and useful to know who is using CAM therapies and why,
how the public obtains information about CAM and how credible that information is, why many users of CAM do not inform their physicians about such use, just what CAM is, and whether these therapies are safe and effective.
It is only relatively recently, however, that there has been a serious general interest in the United States in investigating and evaluating these therapies. In 1992 the U.S. Congress established the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin to develop a baseline of information on CAM use in the United States. In 1999 the Congress elevated OAM to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and appropriated $48.9 million to carry out work directly related to CAM. Other institutes of NIH and other federal agencies also engaged in the effort and by 2003, 19 institutes and centers within NIH were collectively spending $315.5 million on CAM-related research and other activities.
CONTENTS:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PREVALENCE, COST, AND PATTERNS OF CAM USE
3. CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO EVIDENCE OF TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS: A CONTEXT FOR CAM RESEARCH
4. NEED FOR INNOVATIVE DESIGNS IN RESEARCH ON CAM AND CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE
5. STATE OF EMERGING EVIDENCE ON CAM
6. AN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CAM RESEARCH, PRACTICE, AND POLICY
7. INTEGRATION OF CAM AND CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE
8. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN CAM
9. DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
10. CONCLUSION
APPENDIXES
A. CAM Therapies, Practices, and Systems
B. Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine
C. Table 1-1 List of Abbreviations
D. Liaison Panel Organizations
E. Model Guidelines for the Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Medical Practice
F. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Centers
G. Public Meetings
H. Committee Biosketches
Title: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL
PASSWORD/CONTRASEÑA: www.rinconmedico.me
