In reply to “could acupuncture be a treatment option for cancer patients with attitudinal barriers to pharmacological pain management?” by Kako, Kajiwara, and Kobayashi

Excerpt

We appreciate the correspondence regarding our article [1]. Kako et al. commented that patients’ experiences with acupuncture are important factors to consider in our study on pain management preferences. We did not assess patients’ prior use or experiences with acupuncture. However, our study used a validated instrument to evaluate patients’ attitudes and beliefs about acupuncture, including their expectations about benefits; these factors are often shaped by patients’ prior experiences with acupuncture [2, 3]. We adjusted for these attitudes and beliefs in our analyses, and we still found a significant association between acupuncture preference and fear of analgesic side effects. These results suggest that patients’ attitudes and beliefs about acupuncture are not the only factors influencing acupuncture preference. …