Survival odds higher for breast cancer patients with access to integrative therapies – EurekAlert

WASHINGTON (December 28) Breast cancer patients treated at hospitals and health systems that educate patients and provide integrative health services have a better chance of survival compared to those treated at institutions with few of these resources, according to a new study published in the Journal of Oncology. Integrative health services include complementary and lifestyle therapies, such as nutrition and exercise counseling, in addition to medical cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and surgery.

Access to basic integrative healthcare services in cancer care not only supports a higher quality of life, but this study also shows that these services increase a patients chance of survival, said Wayne Jonas, MD, co-author of the study and executive director for Integrative Health Programs at the Samueli Foundation. These findings serve as a call to action for hospitals and oncologists to support a whole-person approach to cancer care.

For the study, researchers analyzed claims data for 4,815 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who were treated in 2013 and 2014. Treating oncologists were surveyed about their institutions efforts to educate patients and to support 12 complementary and lifestyle approaches to treatment. Responses were received from 103 oncologists at 103 institutions involved in the treatment of 173 patients.

Scoring physician responses, the study identified institutions with low, low-mid, mid-high, or high levels of education and support for complementary and lifestyle therapies. Researchers found that patients treated at institutions that had crossed the threshold above the low integrative score into a low-mid score or higher were up to three times more likely to survive over the five-year period, compared to patients treated at institutions with a low score.

Institutional ratings were based on support for 12 types of complementary and lifestyle therapy consultations, programs, or services, including nutrition, exercise, patient support groups, spiritual services, psycho-oncology support, massage therapy, meditation or mindfulness, yoga, acupuncture or acupressure, music and art therapy, Reiki or healing touch, and tai chi or qi gong. All patients in the study also received conventional medical treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Institutions with higher levels of investment commonly offered a core set of six therapies: nutrition consultation, exercise consultation, patient support groups, spiritual services, meditation/ mindfulness, and psycho-oncology support.

Patients can play an active role in their cancer treatment and outcomes but they are much more likely to do it with approval and help from their health system, said Terri Crudup, lead author of the study and senior principal of Primary Intelligence at the global research and technology firm IQVIA. Oncologists and institutions that treat these patients need to consider providing education, support, and funding for these complementary and lifestyle therapies.

The study authors enumerated ways that health care institutions can cross the threshold from low into higher integrative health involvement:

The authors noted that their study is limited due to patient variables that can affect treatment outcomes that were not included in this study. Researchers also suggest the study should be replicated with a larger sample size, and additional research should validate the scoring system for integrative health care that was used.

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About Samueli Foundation

Samueli Foundations Integrative Health Programs are dedicated to the promotion of personal health and well-being with the support of health teams dedicated to all proven approaches, including conventional, complementary and self-care. Dr. Wayne Jonas, the former director of the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine and the former director of a World Health Organization Center for Traditional Medicine, is clinical professor of Family Medicine at the Uniformed Services University and at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

About IQVIA

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) is a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry. IQVIA creates intelligent connections across all aspects of healthcare through its analytics, transformative technology, big data resources and extensive domain expertise. IQVIA Connected Intelligence delivers powerful insights with speed and agility enabling customers to accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments that improve healthcare outcomes for patients. With approximately 77,000 employees, IQVIA conducts operations in more than 100 countries.

IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better outcomes. IQVIAs insights and execution capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors and scientific advances, in an effort to advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit http://www.iqvia.com.

Journal of Oncology

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Survival odds higher for breast cancer patients with access to integrative therapies - EurekAlert