Use of Complementary Therapy in Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Chemotherapy and its Effect on Survival: A Cross-sectional Study

Aim: Complementary therapies are being increasingly preferred in patients receiving anticancer therapy to strengthen the effect of chemotherapy and control cancer-related symptoms. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of complementary therapy (CT), the factors associated with its use, physician-patient information sharing about CT use, and the effect of CT on the survival and treatment process in lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study including patients who underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer between November 2020 and March 2022 in the department of medical oncology at Tekirdag Namik Kemal University. A structured questionnaire with twenty questions was used. Fluor-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT, and brain magnetic resonance imaging were used to stage the patients. The stages were grouped as early (stages 1B-3A) and advanced (stages 3B-4A).Results: A total of 242 patients included in the study. One hundred and forty-seven (60.7%) patients reported using at least one type of CT since the first diagnosis. "Families/relatives" (n=128; 63.7%) and "other patients" (n=67; 33.3%) were the primary sources from which patients obtained CT information. The most widely used CT methods were recorded as phytotherapy (79.6%) and apitherapy (59.2%). 125 (85%) of the patients said that they used CT to support their existing anticancer treatments. Of the patients using CT, 94 (63.9%) stated that they did not disclose their use of CT to their physicians. The majority of patients stated that their physicians did not inquire about using CT. In the cox regression analysis performed to determine survival benefit, no survival benefit from the use of CT was determined (hazard ratio=0.86, p=0.495). In the subgroup analysis, the use of CT was associated with survival in early-stage patients, but no survival relationship was found in advanced-stage patients (log-rank p=0.027 and p=0.842, respectively).Conclusion: The use of CT in conjunction with medical treatment is common among patients with lung cancer. The influence of the oncologist in guiding the use of CT in cancer patients is weak. Additionally, the use of CT does not provide benefits in terms of survival.