Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

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256 Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine begun to be gathered. In reality, conventional medicine and alternative and complementary therapies run parallel rather than in concert. The situation is compounded by the speed of new information transfer and the contradictions of breaking research. Physicians can no longer rely on a conventional wisdom, imparted from their medical training and specialty knowledge and updated through conferences and current literature. The issues concerning information dissemination, even within conventional medicine, are illustrated by the decision in July 2002 to halt the Women’s Health Initiative prevention trial when the preliminary findings demonstrated that the risks of taking estrogen plus progestin hormone therapy may outweigh the benefits. Professionals and consumers were largely convinced that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) would help prevent serious health problems, including heart disease in postmenopausal women. This had become the accepted position, transmitted through apparently authoritative sources that had assessed the available data. Previous chapters have been concerned with systematically reviewing the current research data available on various CAM therapies used as adjuncts or alternatives to conventional care for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Even during the publication of this volume, new research findings will become available. This chapter provides categorized reference resources on the World Wide Web to aid the busy physician and other members of the health care team in updating that knowledge. However, Web-based resources are notoriously volatile, so the main rationale in this chapter is to provide guidelines and principles that can be used to find, assess, and cross-check information on the World Wide Web, both for professionals’ use and for their use with patients. GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING CAM INFORMATION RESOURCES ON THE WEB Despite recognized problems of exploitation and commercialism and deliberate misinformation that are present anyway in all walks of life, the Web is still an excellent information resource for professionals and the public. Many assessment tools have been developed to quality-evaluate Web resources. Many of these have been of short duration, were sometimes provided by an organization with vested interests, could be faked, or relied on voluntary compliance, such as the HONcode, the most widely known and respected code, developed by the Geneva-based Health On the Net Foundation. You can verify the authenticity of any site displaying the code by going to the HON code website at http:// www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html.
Chapter 16 / A Guide for Physicians 257 The following brief guidelines have been compiled from common features of several sets of guidelines (1,2) and apply equally to all information resources on the Web. Where all or most of these principles are adhered to, the site can be deemed reasonably authoritative. This does not mean that the information is not open to debate in the same way that much received wisdom can always be overturned by new findings. Recent examples of such controversies include healthy diet and nutrition guidelines, in addition to the HRT example. Asterisks indicate essential features; other features are desirable for an ergonomic site with a clear structure. The essential principles are similar to those that apply to the review of journal articles, as used in the other chapters. Site Ownership and Affiliations • There should be clear information on ownership, affiliations, alliances, investors, or sponsors. All this information should be accessible from the home page. • Product information and advertising should be clearly separated from information content. Most high-quality information sites do not sell products and advertisements. Restrictions on access to parts of the site should be clearly stated and easy to find. Clear information should be given on registration and password protection. Editorial Identity • Editors and reviewers of content should be clearly identified with affiliations. • The criteria for selection of related links should be stated clearly. • Where related links are reviewed this should be according to a clearly stated set of guidelines. Some sites, in particular the health science library sites, aim for comprehensiveness and choose not to review or evaluate. This should be stated. Such resources are invaluable for gaining an overview of what information is available. Ideally, reviewers should declare their financial interests. Maintenance and Navigation of Site • Dates of posting and updating should be clear. • Links should be regularly maintained and monitored. • Viewers should not be prevented from returning to a previous site. • Sites should not frame other sites without permission/license. • Sites should not automatically redirect viewers to another site or advertising material.
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Complementary and Alternative Cardi
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CONTEMPORARY CARDIOLOGY CHRISTOPHER
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© 2004 Humana Press Inc. 999 River
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vi Preface physician or other healt
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viii Contents 10 Massage Therapy an
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x Contributors ERIN L. OLIVO, PhD
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Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 1 1 Complem
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Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 3 patients
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Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 5 The crite
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Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 7 disease c
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Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 9 analyses,
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12 Alternative Cardiovascular Medic
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Chapter 3 / Botanical Medicine and
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Chapter 4 / Herb and Dietary Supple
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Chapter 5 / Vitamin Therapy and CVD
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Table 2 Type and Quantity of Dietar
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Chapter 11 / Acupuncture and CVD 16
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Page 291 and 292: Index 279 INDEX A N-Acetylcysteine
Page 293 and 294: Index 281 taurine studies, 106 Conj
Page 295 and 296: Index 283 Homeopathic medicine, see
Page 297 and 298: Index 285 funding of studies, 148 g
Page 299: Contemporary Cardiology COMPLEMENTA
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Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

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