Show Notes
Subscribe through iTunes and Google Play. Hello, and welcome to this edition of ASCO in Action. This is ASCO's podcast series where we explore policy and practice issues that are important to oncologists, the entire cancer care delivery team and, most importantly, the patients we care for, people with cancer. My name is Clifford Hudis, and I serve as the CEO of ASCO and the host of the ASCO in Action podcast series.
For today's podcast, I do not have a guest. Instead, I am personally going to share key findings from ASCO's 2018 National Cancer Opinion Survey. We conduct this survey yearly, and we always hope to find interesting information that can help us as we talk to patients, policymakers, and all of the stakeholders in cancer care. This year was no different. Perhaps, the most striking and concerning finding for us this year was this.
Nearly 4 in 10 Americans believe that cancer can be cured solely through alternative therapies. Over the next few moments, I'm going to explore this observation in a bit more detail and then consider some other notable findings from this year's survey. Thanks for listening in. Now, by way of background, ASCO just recently released the results of our second annual National Cancer Opinion Survey.
We conducted the survey in collaboration with the Harris Poll to help us better understand the views held by the US public regarding cancer research and cancer care. One reason that ASCO established this annual survey was our view that by tracking the American public's perceptions of cancer, over time we might be able to better identify opportunities to add useful information and insights that could positively influence public policy.
Therefore, the survey is designed to collect high quality objective data that can be used to understand what the public does and does not know about cancer. We then use this research to help guide ASCO's educational policy and advocacy efforts. This year's survey was conducted online for a one month period. This was between July and August of 2018. Nearly 5,000 US adults over the age of 18 responded to our survey.
This included about 1,000 individuals who currently have cancer or have had cancer in the past. And, as I noted, it always amazes us that we find interesting tidbits in these kinds of surveys, and this year was no exception. I'm going to highlight three areas in particular. These include the role of alternative therapies, access to pain management, and the continued financial burden of care. ASCO's core values, as many of you will know, include evidence, care, and impact. Given that, we start with evidence, and one of the most surprising findings for us is that nearly 4 in 10 Americans believe that cancer can be cured solely through alternative therapies. And I note that given that research has shown that the sole use of alternative therapies for cancer is actually associated with a much higher mortality rate when compared against patients treated with standard evidence based approaches.
Now for clarity, I want to point out that when we say alternative medicines, what we mean specifically are interventions like acupuncture, diet, so-called enzyme therapy, massage, medical marijuana, meditation, vitamins, herbs, and other supplements. All of that and more, perhaps, in this context, we're referring to them as the sole therapy for cancer, not as complementary treatments where they have arguably different roles and different impact. It's this potential reliance on them as the sole therapy for cancer that is so concerning. Now even with direct experience with cancer, respondents don't report a very different perspective. For example, even among those who have had cancer, either themselves or have been close caregivers as a family member, for example, a sizable proportion expressed the belief that cancer can be cured solely through alternative medicine.
Younger people, those age 18 to 37, and, to a slightly lesser extent, those aged 38 to 53, are mos
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