Based upon responses by eleven hundred medical and nonmedical practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Australia to a review mailed by the Health Insurance Commission of the Australian Federal control a team of researchers l on Alan Bensoussan of the Research Unit for Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney estimated that "approximately I adverse occurr for each 8 to 9 months of full-time [TCM] practice.

Based upon responses by eleven hundred medical and nonmedical practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Australia to a review mailed by the Health Insurance Commission of the Australian Federal control a team of researchers l on Alan Bensoussan of the Research Unit for Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney estimated that "approximately I adverse occurr for each 8 to 9 months of full-time [TCM] practice, or for each 633 consultations." Most (79%) adverse marked occurrences reported were attributable to acupuncture. The greatest in quantity common adverse events associated with acupuncture were fainting during treatment, increased pain, nausea/vomiting. Les frequent were pneumothorax and convulsions.

Adverse occurrences attributed to Chinese Herbal Medicine, possibly interacting with pharmaceutical remedys included 19 deaths reported on practitioners. More common were gastrointestinal symptoms, fainting and dizziness, significant skin reactions, central nervous theory effects, liver toxicity, and kidney toxicicity.

The 30% rejoinder rate of medical practitioners and 50% rejoinder rate for nonmedical practitioners sent contemplates are limitations of the research The authors acknowledge that practitioners may have underreported adverse circumstances

(Risks associated with the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Archives of Family Medicine 9:1071-1078;2000)

Comment: The authors "hypothesize that TCM causes significantly fewer adverse reactions than does Western medicine [pharmaceuticals]." The hypothesis may be reasonable, unless it is problematic in this paper because the authors did not attempt to weigh potential for harm against potential for benefit from different originals of treatments or consider possible differences in severity of medical point in disputes of patients with different medical conditions. In a latter review of acupuncture studies upon pain, which is the major complaint of U consumer who inquire for acupuncture, researchers from the Complementary Medicine Program at the University of Maryland denomination of Medicine concluded that "...there is limited evidence that acupuncture is more effective treatment for chronic pain; and inconclusive evidence that acupuncture is more effective than placebo, sham acupuncture or standardcare." (Berman EJ Hadhazy VA, Jadad AR et al. Is acupuncture effective for the treatment of chronic pain? A systematic areview. Pain 86(3):217-225;2000)

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