Integration of complementary and alternative medicine information and advice in chronic disease management guidelines

The growing evidence on the benefits and risks of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and its high rate of use (69% of Australians) – particularly for chronic or recurrent conditions – means increasing attention on CAM. However, few people disclose CAM use to their GP, and health professionals tend to inadequately discuss CAM-related issues with their patients, partly due to insufficient knowledge. As clinical and non-clinical chronic condition management guidelines are a means to educate primary health care practitioners, we undertook a content analysis of guidelines relevant to two common chronic conditions – cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) – to assess their provision of CAM-related information. Ten current Australian guidelines were reviewed, revealing scant CAM content. When available, the CAM-relevant information was brief, in some cases unclear, inconclusive and lacking in direction to the GP or health care provider. Although we focus on CVD and T2DM, we argue the value of all chronic condition management guidelines integrating relevant evidence-informed information and advice on CAM risks, benefits and referrals, to increase GP awareness and knowledge of appropriate CAM therapies, and potentially to facilitate doctor–client discussion about CAM.