Complementary and alternative medicine use among US cancer survivors

Us cancer survivors commonly use vitamins/minerals and complementary and alternative medicine (cam). we compare use of vitamins/minerals and cam between adult cancer survivors and cancer-free adults and estimate annual out-of-pocket expenses. data on self-reported vitamin/mineral and cam use in the past 12 months from the cross-sectional 2012 us national health interview survey were used to estimate prevalence of use and out-of-pocket expenditures. the cohort included adults with (n = 2977) and without (n = 30,551) a self-reported cancer diagnosis. approximately 79 % of cancer survivors and 68 % of cancer-free adults reported using ≥1 vitamins/minerals and/or cam modality in the past year. compared to cancer-free adults, cancer survivors were more likely to report use of vitamin/minerals (75 vs. 61 %, p < 0.001), non-vitamin/mineral natural products (24 vs. 19 %, p < 0.001), manipulative and body-based therapies (19 vs. 17 %, p = 0.03), and alternative medical systems (5 vs. 4 %, p = 0.04). adult cancer survivors and cancer-free adults spent an annual estimated $6.7 billion and $52 billion out-of-pocket, respectively, on vitamins/minerals and cam. survivors spent 60 % of the total on vitamins/minerals ($4 billion), 18 % ($1.2 billion) on non-vitamin/mineral natural products, and 7 % ($0.5 billion) on massage. compared with cancer-free adults, a higher proportion of cancer survivors report vitamin/mineral and cam use. cancer survivors, who accounted for 6.9 % of the total population, accrued more than 11.4 % of the annual out-of-pocket costs on vitamins/minerals and cam spent by us adults. given the high use of vitamins/minerals and cam in cancer survivors, studies are needed to analyze health outcomes and the cost/benefit ratio of such use.