This is because cancer patients using complementary therapies were much more likely to refuse some or all recommended treatment, resulting in a much poorer prognosis, Yale University researchers found.
Complementary medicine covers a wide range of trends and traditions of scientifically unproven value as cancer treatments. These include Chinese herbal medicine and homeopathy, dietary supplements, cleanse diets, yoga, and massage.
The side effects of cancer treatment can be harrowing, including nausea, joint pain, fatigue and infertility, and all patients face a decision about balancing quality of life with the best chances of survival.
Studies have shown some alternative therapies, including massage and acupuncture, can improve quality of life and wellbeing while patients are coping with conventional treatment side effects, and also help patients relax or feel in control. Between 48 and 88 per cent of patients are thought to use complementary therapy as an element of their treatment.
However studies have also suggested many patients believe such alternative treatments will also help their survival prospects.
"Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion about the role of complementary therapies,” said Dr Skyler Johnson, lead author of the new study, published on Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology.
"Although they may be used to support patients experiencing symptoms from cancer treatment, it looks as though they are either being marketed, or understood to be effective [as] cancer treatments.”
These side-effects and mistrust of major pharmaceutical companies can make the benefits of alternative therapies seem like a credible option for some patients.
Stephanie Dunleavy, 29, is a Brighton-based writer and co-founder of the lifestyle website Soul Analyse, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April.
Though she had surgery to remove her tumour, she rejected chemotherapy and radio therapy "because of the toxicity involved in those treatments" and is instead using diet, exercise, meditation and herbal remedies – including cannabis oils – to treat her cancer.
"I’m faced daily with scaremongering and studies like these, which are intended to steer cancer patients in a certain direction but nothing will change my mind – I do not believe in damaging the body in an effort to make it heal. I am confident in the routes I am taking to treat my breast cancer.
"Knowing that the pharmaceutical industry controls what cancer treatments are recommended, and they do this for profit, makes me sure in my decision."
The complimentary therapy industry is worth billions of pounds in the US alone, the report's authors wrote, and to study the phenomenon the Yale Medical School team looked at the National Cancer Database.
The Independent
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