Table 1.
Demographics and clinical breakdown of the sample by timing of the decision to use alternative cancer therapy.
| Variable | Total campaigns (N=649), n (%) | ACTa first (N=278), n (%) | ACT after CCTb (N=371), n (%) | P valuec | ||||
| Gender |
|
|
|
.47 | ||||
|
|
Female | 417 (64.3) | 183 (65.8) | 234 (63.1) |
|
|||
|
|
Male | 232 (35.7) | 95 (34.2) | 137 (36.9) |
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|||
| Cancer type |
|
|
|
<.001 | ||||
|
|
Breast | 171 (26.3) | 82 (29.5) | 89 (24.0) |
|
|||
|
|
Colorectal | 70 (10.8) | 24 (8.6) | 46 (12.6) |
|
|||
|
|
Lung | 36 (5.5) | 15 (5.4) | 21 (5.7) |
|
|||
|
|
Head and neck | 35 (5.4) | 25 (9.0) | 10 (2.7) |
|
|||
|
|
Brain | 30 (4.6) | 8 (2.9) | 22 (5.9) |
|
|||
|
|
Esophagus/gastric | 28 (4.3) | 16 (5.8) | 12 (3.2) |
|
|||
|
|
Ovarian | 28 (4.3) | 7 (2.5) | 21 (5.7) |
|
|||
|
|
Pancreas | 26 (4.0) | 5 (1.8) | 21 (5.7) |
|
|||
|
|
Bone and soft tissue | 24 (3.7) | 9 (3.2) | 15 (4.0) |
|
|||
|
|
Lymphoma | 22 (3.4) | 11 (4.0) | 11 (3.0) |
|
|||
|
|
Otherd | 179 (27.6) | 76 (27.3) | 103 (27.8) |
|
|||
| Cancer stagee |
|
|
|
.03 | ||||
|
|
I, II, or III | 76 (20.8) | 38 (26.6) | 38 (17.1) |
|
|||
|
|
IV | 289 (79.2) | 105 (73.4) | 184 (82.9) |
|
|||
| Primary residence |
|
|
|
.06 | ||||
|
|
United States | 524 (80.7) | 235 (84.5) | 289 (77.9) |
|
|||
|
|
Europe | 57 (8.8) | 23 (8.3) | 34 (9.2) |
|
|||
|
|
Canada | 43 (6.6) | 15 (5.4) | 28 (7.5) |
|
|||
|
|
Other | 25 (3.9) | 5 (1.8) | 20 (5.4) |
|
|||
aACT: alternative cancer therapy.
bCCT: conventional cancer therapy.
cFrom chi-square tests comparing patients in the “ACT first” and “ACT after CCT” groups.
dOther cancers include anal, cervix, endometrial, leukemia, melanoma, nonmelanoma skin, liver and biliary, kidney, multiple myeloma, prostate, bladder, neuroendocrine, thyroid, testicular, vulvar, and unspecified.
eCancer stage was reported in 365 campaigns, with 143 in the “ACT first” group and 222 in the “ACT after CCT” group. These numbers were used as the denominators for each cancer stage timing category.