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

    Telephone-delivered CBT and exercise to treat chronic widespread pain

    Researchers at the University of Manchester, in the UK, studied the clinical impact of telephone-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exercise alone vs both for patients with chronic widespread pain.

    First, the details.

    • 442 patients with chronic widespread pain were randomly assigned to a treatment group for 6 months.
      • Telephone-delivered CBT
      • Graded exercise
      • Telephone-delivered CBT + exercise
      • Treatment as usual
    • A 7-point patient global assessment scale of change in health since study enrollment (range: very much worse to very much better) was used to assess the patients at baseline, at the end of the study, and 9 months after starting the study.
    • A positive outcome was defined as “much better” or “very much better.”

    And, the results.

    • Positive outcomes at 6 and 9 months, respectively, were recorded for the following.
      • Treatment as usual group, 8% and 8%
      • Telephone-delivered CBT groups, 30% and 33%
      • Exercise group, 35% and 24%
      • Telephone-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy + exercise, 37% and 37% (all treatments were significantly better than the start of the study)
    • At 6 and 9 months, telephone-delivered CBT + exercise was associated with improvements in the 36-Item Short Form Health Questionnaire physical component score and a reduction in passive coping strategies.

    The bottom line?

    The authors concluded, “Telephone-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy was associated with substantial, statistically significant, and sustained improvements in patient global assessment.”

    It’s all about the follow-up.

    11/27/11 21:16 JR

    Leave a Comment

    You must be logged in to post a comment.