PATIENT USE AND ASSESSMENT OF CONVENTIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES FOR HIV-INFECTION AND AIDS

Objective: To investigate the extent of recourse to alternative therap ies among 184 HIV-positive patients who continued to attend convention al medical clinics. The study describes the specific alternative thera peutic modalities that were more commonly sought by our respondents, a nd provides data on the subjective assessment of the efficacy of both conventional and alternative therapies. Methods: Demographic and behav ioral information were obtained from standard, self-administered, anon ymous questionnaires distributed at three HIV clinics in the Philadelp hia area. Results: Forty per cent of patients reported having used alt ernative or complementary therapies. Forty-two per cent of respondents who had been enrolled in clinical trials had used alternative therapi es at some stage. Recourse to such therapies was significantly associa ted with risk-group affiliation, duration of seropositivity, and sex. The decision to use alternative therapies was not significantly relate d to age, race, education, religion or severity of symptoms. Of respon dents using alternatives, 10% expected the unconventional treatments t o cure their HIV infection, and 36% expected them to delay the onset o f symptoms. Conclusion: The results of this study will contribute to c onventional practitioners' understanding of those unconventional expla nations and therapies for HIV infection that many patients find releva nt and meaningful. Health-care workers should be aware of their patien ts' interest in participating in decisions about their treatment - whe ther alternative or conventional - and be prepared to work with them t o achieve satisfactory outcomes.