Among followers of alternative medicine, five-year survival rate for cancer is 2.5 times lower, oncologists have established.. They are concerned that this type of cancer treatment is increasingly being chosen by young, educated people..

As noted in an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, alternative medicine methods, from homeopathy to acupuncture, are quite popular in the world - in particular, one in three resorts to them in the United States..

Yale University researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Database from 2004-2013. They identified 281 patients who were diagnosed with early-stage breast, prostate, lung, or colon cancer but refused treatment and turned to alternative medicine.. Although such patients were in the minority, their failure to treat them cost them dearly..

When the researchers compared the survival rates of these patients with data from 560 patients with similar diagnoses who underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery, they found that adherents of alternative treatments were 2.5 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis..

The researchers then compared survival rates by diagnosis.. So, breast cancer killed supporters of alternative medicine 5.68 times more often. Death from lung cancer became 4.57 times more likely, from colon cancer - 2.17 times..

“Now we have evidence that using alternative medicine instead of proven cancer treatments is killing patients,” says oncologist Skyler Johnson, lead author of the study.. “We hope that patients and doctors will use this information when making treatment decisions.”.

The authors of the work note that the study did not take into account which methods of alternative medicine the patients resorted to..

“It could be herbal medicine, and homeopathy, and special diets, and treatment with energy crystals - stones that people think have healing powers,” explains Johnson..

The surprise for scientists was that alternative medicine turned mainly to young, educated people with high incomes..

" These were young patients who would have been easy to cure, but instead all sorts of healers gave them snake oil to drink, ”says James Yu, one of the authors of the work..

Scientists hope the findings will help fight misinformation about the alleged effectiveness of alternative medicine, especially in the treatment of serious diseases such as cancer.. However, the choice of treatment still remains with the patient..

aspect. net.