Varying Effects of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in the United States and Japan

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 22. Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Abstract

Controlled clinical trials as well as case reports of acupuncture and herbal medicine have shown inconsistent treatment outcomes. In response, medical meta-analysis has aimed to produce a model of the universally consistent effects of the treatments by bracketing social contextual differences off the consideration. By applying sociological meta-analysis, to the contrary, this paper provides a model of the varying effects of medicine that shed lights on the very contextual differences and their impact on treatment outcomes. First, the paper finds that acupuncture and herbal medicine are integrated into the national medical system in Japan whereas only acupuncture is in the U.S. with herbal medicine left outside the system. Second, based on the content analysis of the Cochrane Library’s CENTRAL trials and the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE reports for the two countries, it finds that treatment outcomes correspond with the degree of institutional integration. The more integrated in the system and the more coordinated with biomedical treatments, the more favorable outcomes both acupuncture and herbal medicine produce. Based on a close examination of the contents of medical journal articles, the paper also finds specific contexts in which acupuncture and herbal medicine generate synergic interactions with conventional biomedical treatments. It also highlights the contexts in which the treatments result in unexpected outcomes and adverse interactions with biomedical treatments. It concludes with practical policy implications for securing the efficacy and safety of popular complementary and alternative medicine.

Author

• Jae-Mahn Shim, University of Seoul