Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients Utilizing Complementary Medicine at a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Eastern Switzerland

Background: In 2012, the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, a tertiary referral hospital in Eastern Switzerland, opened its Center for Integrative Medicine (ZIM). This study aims to characterize disease and treatment characteristics of adult patients treated at the ZIM. Patients and Methods: For all new patients, physicians at the ZIM completed questionnaires on patients' diagnoses and treatments. Descriptive statistics for categorical variables were reported as percentages. Univariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the data. The analysis was performed with the statistical software package SPSS (IBM). Results: From 2015 to 2020, 4,592 new patients were seen at the ZIM. The most common diagnosis in the supergroups was cancer (48%), followed by pain diagnoses (33%). Chronic pain as a subgroup was represented the most in patients (29%). Anthroposophical medication was the most commonly prescribed therapy, in 74% of patients with cancer and 73% with pain diagnosis. The latter was associated with the prescription of eurythmy therapy (OR: 3.80, p < 0.001), traditional Chinese medicine (OR: 3.34, p < 0.001), or art therapy (OR: 5.15, p < 0.001), whereas mistletoe therapy was the preferred treatment option (OR: 59.0, p < 0.001) for a cancer diagnosis. Conclusion and Outlook: The results will help adapt CM services to patients' needs and provide a good basis for the planning of future services in CM in major hospitals. Further research should be conducted focusing on specific health outcomes.

Automated summary

This study characterizes the disease and treatment characteristics of adult patients treated at the Center for Integrative Medicine in a Swiss hospital. The most common diagnosis is cancer, followed by pain diagnoses. The findings provide a basis for future planning of integrative medicine services.