The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Review: Mind-body treatments for insomnia

    Researchers at Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, in Brazil, reviewed the evidence.

    First, the details.

    • 12 studies were selected
    • Only 5 of the studies achieved a score of 3 in the Jadad scale,
      • The Jadad scale, sometimes known as Jadad scoring or the Oxford quality scoring system, is a procedure to assess the quality of the design of the study, ranging between 0 (very poor) and 5 (rigorous study design).

    And, the results.

    • Mind-body interventions improved sleep efficiency, sleep quality, and total sleep time.
      • Yoga
      • Relaxation
      • Tai chi
      • Music
      • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
        • Appeared to be the most effective mind-body intervention.
        • CBT was the only treatment with better results than medication.

    The bottom line?

    Sounds good. But as the authors concluded, “New studies with a higher methodological quality have to be conducted especially in mind-body interventions that belong to the complementary or alternative medicine field.”

    It’s disappointing that researchers in this field spend so much time doing studies, only to have the results compromised because of poor study design.

    2/21/11 20:42 JR

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