Letters

Complementary medicine must be research led and evidence based

EDITORThe ABC of Complementary Medicine is welcome.¹ Ernst has drawn attention to an important issue in relation to complementary and alternative medicine.² He previously showed that 0.08% of the total research budget in the United Kingdom is being spent on complementary and alternative medicine.³ The Foundation for Integrated Medicine's report emphasises the importance of an appropriately resourced national agenda for research into complementary and alternative medicine and suggests possible areas for research.⁴ The deans of all medical schools in the United Kingdom were asked to comment on the initial draft of this document, and those who responded unanimously highlighted the need for more research in association with an appropriate structure to carry such a policy forward.⁴

If we are to develop an integrated approach that will allow us to combine the best of conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine in order to provide an informed choice for our patients, then it must be research led and evidence based. In the United States the Office of Alternative and Complementary Medicine within the National Institutes of Health has now become a centre in its own right, providing both a structure and appropriate funding ($50m (£33m) per annum) that will sustain a concerted research effort.

Much research in complementary and alternative medicine originates from the United Kingdom. Without appropriate support, however, this embryonic academic discipline will certainly flounder. Research funding is sourced either directly through tax revenue or through charitable contributions; the public's use of complementary and alternative medicine is increasing dramatically throughout the Western world.⁵ Public sources of funding should be responsive to patient need, and therefore more should be made available to develop research structures within complementary and alternative medicine.

The development of, and investment in, research into complementary and alternative medicine is an important national priority in response to the public's growing use of these therapeutic interventions.

G T Lewith, honorary senior research fellow. 
University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD

E Ernst, director. 
Department of Complementary Medicine, University of Exeter, Exeter EX2 4NT

Simon Mills, director. 
Centre for Complementary Health Studies, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ

Peter Fisher, director of research. 
Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, London WC1N 3HR

Jonathan Monckton, director. 
Research Council for Complementary Medicine, London SW6 3JD

David Reilly, director of academic departments. 
Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital, Glasgow G12 0NR

David Peters, clinical director. 
Centre for Community Care and Primary Health, University of Westminster, London W1M 8JS

Kate Thomas, deputy director. 
Medical Care Research Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DA