Investigators from The RAND Corporation Release New Data on Complementary and Alternative Medicine

2019 SEP 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Health and Medicine - Complementary and Alternative Medicine. According to news reporting originating in Santa Monica, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The treatment goals of patients successfully using ongoing provider-based care for chronic spinal pain can help inform health policy related to this care. Multinomial logistical hierarchical linear models were used to examine the characteristics of patients with different treatment goals for their ongoing care.”

Funders for this research include National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company Foundation.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from The RAND Corporation, “Settings/Location: Observational data from a large national sample of patients from 125 chiropractic clinics clustered in 6 U.S. regions. Patients with nonwork-injury-related nonspecific chronic low-back pain (CLBP) and chronic neck pain (CNP). All were receiving ongoing chiropractic care. Primary outcomes were patient endorsement of one of four goals for their treatment. Explanatory variables included pain characteristics, pain beliefs, goals for mobility/flexibility, demographics, and other psychological variables. Across our sample of 1614 patients (885 with CLBP and 729 with CNP) just under one-third endorsed a treatment goal of having their pain go away permanently (cure). The rest had goals of preventing their pain from coming back (22% CLBP, 16% CNP); preventing their pain from getting worse (14% CLBP, 12% CNP); or temporarily relieving their pain (31% CLBP, 41% CNP). In univariate analysis across these goals, patients differed significantly on almost all variables. In the multinomial logistic models, a goal of cure was associated with shorter pain duration and more belief in a medical cure; a goal of preventing pain from coming back was associated with lower pain levels; and those with goals of preventing their pain from getting worse or temporarily relieving pain were similar, including in having their pain longer. Although much of health policy follows a curative model, the majority of these CLBP and CNP patients have goals of pain management (using ongoing care) rather than ‘cure’ (care with a specific end) for their chiropractic care.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This information could be useful in crafting policy for patients facing provider-based nonpharmacologic care for chronic pain.”

For more information on this research see: Prevalence and Characteristics of Chronic Spinal Pain Patients With Different Hopes (Treatment Goals) for Ongoing Chiropractic Care. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2019;():. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine can be contacted at: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 140 Huguenot Street, 3RD Fl, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting P.M. Herman, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Pob 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, United States. Additional authors for this research include S.E. Edgington, G.W. Ryan and I.D. Coulter.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2019.0247. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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