Health care practices that are not part of the traditional Western health care system—from acupuncture, yoga, and Tai Chi to vitamin supplements and medical marijuana—are typically labeled complementary or alternative medicines by the mainstream. RAND conducts evidence-based research on alternative approaches to illness prevention and treatment as well as studies aimed at understanding the place of complementary and alternative medicines within the health care system.
EVENT
A panel discussion about integrative medicine will include Ian Coulter of the RAND Corporation, Wayne Jonas of the Samueli Institute, and David Eisenberg of Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This editorial uses a recent meta-analysis on the effects of vitamin C on blood pressure to highlight pitfalls in nutrition research design.
REPORT
The U.S. military has had a long-standing interest in the potential for dietary supplements to enhance performance and optimize health among military service personnel. An expert panel considered issues pertaining to the development, assessment (of both efficacy and safety), and regulation of multicomponent dietary supplements for the military.
REPORT
Explores quality and utilization of diabetes care in China.
REPORT
The U.S. military has had a longstanding interest in the potential for dietary supplements to enhance performance and optimize health as well as an interest in their safety. An expert panel considered current policies regulating dietary supplement use among other similar groups (such as among athletes and pilots) and issues involved in crafting military policies and education about supplement use.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The move toward comparative effectiveness research may be a positive one for complementary and alternative medicine, but a more critical evaluation might be in order.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Patient education integrated with acupuncture had a sufficiently promising effect on cancel-related fatigue that a larger randomized controlled trial is warranted.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The existing scientific literature does not adequately address questions about the safety of probiotics.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This book chapter gives an introduction on how to read and how to do a systematic review or a meta-analysis, and discusses advances and limitations of this method.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Probiotics is the use of microorganisms in complementary and alternative medicine to prevent and treat certain illnesses. This review outlines the challenges associated with the design, implementation, data analysis, and interpretation of clinical trials in humans involving probiotics.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Lack of definition and clarity about the term integrative medicine (also known as integrative health care) and the absence of taxonomy for models of IM make it difficult to efficiently conduct systematic reviews of the literature in this field.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A systematic review of research on integrated health care found little evidence regarding effectiveness, but integrative health care appears to be safe.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The way a questionnaire or scale is administered can affect the outcome.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This book chapter explores ways in which health services research improve the assessment and practice of complementary and alternative medicine.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This fact sheet describes how patients' use of acupuncture affects use of conventional medical services and suggests that acupuncture often substitutes for other, more expensive services, thereby reducing total medical costs.
NEWS RELEASE
The RAND Corporation and the Samueli Institute have created an endowment to support independent policy research on complementary, alternative and integrative medicine
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The paper focuses on the administrative implementation process, examining the original expectations in light
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Looks at health services research (HSR) in relationship to evidence-based practice and discusses the limitations and dangers of the view of complementary and alternative medicine from the perspective of HSR using chiropractic studies as an exemplar.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Examines dietary supplements as an exemplar of the clash between science and law and the dangers inherent in judges wandering in the murky field of scientific controversy and using it as the basis of a judgment.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Determine whether acupuncture is a complement to or substitute for various medical services.
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