Hot off the Presses: Research & Reports

March 29, 2012

By Jo Cooper

Lots of big reports have been coming across our screens lately, and here are several that might interest you:

– Integrative Medicine in America: How Integrative Medicine Is Being Practiced in Clinical Centers Across the United States

Sponsored by The Bravewell Collaborative, the report “…provides current data on the patient populations and health conditions most commonly treated with integrative strategies.

In a survey of 29 U.S. integrative medicine centers, 75 percent reported success using integrative practices to treat chronic pain and more than half reported positive results for gastrointestinal conditions, depression and anxiety, cancer and chronic stress.

‘With chronic health issues costing the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion a year, it’s essential to find the most effective ways to treat and prevent the most prevalent conditions,” said Donald Abrams, MD, co-author of the report and professor of clinical medicine at the University of California San Francisco. “This report demonstrates how an integrative approach is being used to improve patient outcomes.’ ”

To obtain downloads of the report, an executive summary, and a presentation, click here.

Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975–2008, featuring cancers associated with excess weight and lack of sufficient physical activity

The report is co–authored by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society. It appears online in the journal CANCER, and will appear in print in the May issue.

The report specifically finds continuing declines in cancer death rates since the early 1990s, but offers a warning on the effects of excess weight and lack of physical activity on cancer risk.

For report highlights, visit the CDC website here.
For a US News & World Report Health article, click here.