After integrative care for pain at the anthroposophical hospital Vidarkliniken in Sweden, prescriptions for pain medications could be halved. Patients in conventional care however, purchased twice as many analgesics as before treatment. These are some results of a unique comparative study published in the high impact journal PLOS One. Physician Hans Johansson, Södertälje Hospital (not involved with the study), says that it is interesting and important. The international study was conducted by researchers affiliated with IC – The Integrative Care Science Center, Karolinska Institutet, Göteborg University, Samueli Institute in the USA and universities in Coburg and Bad Tölz, Germany. It is published in PLOS One, one of the world´s leading scientific journals. High Price of Pain. In varying degrees, pain affects over half a million people in Sweden with a high price in human suffering and several tens of billion SEK (Swedish kronor) in estimated total costs for society. For the first time, researchers have compared trends in drug prescribing and costs over time for patients in conventional and integrative care. In this case, the integrative care given at the anthroposophical hospital Vidarkliniken, Järna, some 50 kilometers south of Stockholm, the Swedish capital. More ...
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