Compensation scheme for complementary and alternative medicine use in asbestos-related diseases in New South Wales, Australia

Our plain-English summary of Compensation scheme for complementary and alternative medicine use in asbestos-related diseases in New South Wales, Australia, by C. Oak, H.J. Choi, E.K. Park, et al (Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 2012).

The study

• Authors: C. Oak, H.J. Choi, E.K. Park, K. Takahashi
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics
• Published: 2012;37(4):373-4
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

What Is Known And Objective: Asbestos use has resulted in a high global incidence rate of asbestos-related diseases (ARDs). These diseases require high costs of compensation and medical expense, although definite cures have yet to be found. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been used as a means to attenuate symptoms of ARDs. Our objective is to describe the compensation scheme for CAM use for a population with ARDs in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Comment: Expenses of CAM have conditionally been compensated by the workers compensation dust-diseases board (DDB) to a population with ARDs. The DDB approves patients` claim for the use of CAM if it is justifiable and related to compensable ARDs. To obtain the DDB`s approval for the CAM cost, a written recommendation letter by the treating medical doctors is required that justifies the use of CAM and that this option does not pose any adverse effects on the compensated patients.

What Is New And Conclusion: The use of CAM in a subject with ARDs does not have significant benefits of overall survival but does somewhat improve quality of life. However, awareness of the provisions of the compensation scheme for CAM use in a population with ARDs should be carefully informed and also emphasized any side effects on progress of ARDs.

© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

In plain English

This article was a short commentary, not a study with its own data. The authors described how the workers' compensation dust-diseases board (DDB) in New South Wales, Australia, conditionally paid for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for workers with compensable occupational lung diseases, including asbestos-related diseases. CAM listed by the DDB included acupuncture, massage therapy, naturopathy, dietary supplements, traditional Chinese medicine and homoeopathy. The DDB approved a claim if the CAM was justifiable and related to a compensable disease such as asbestosis, diffuse pleural thickening, malignant mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer. The treating doctor had to write a letter justifying the CAM and stating that it posed no adverse effects. Other conditions included the doctor's dosage advice, a supplier who was not a family member and was accredited by the Work Cover Authority of NSW, a treatment plan, and a doctor's review every 6 months. Citing other published work rather than new data, the authors stated that CAM did not significantly improve overall survival but somewhat improved quality of life. They advised caution and called for further follow-up study.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Commentary describing a compensation scheme (no original data collected or analysed)
• Who was studied: Workers with compensable occupational lung diseases, including asbestos-related diseases, covered by the workers' compensation dust-diseases board (DDB) in New South Wales, Australia, set up under the NSW Dust Act 1941. No patient numbers were given.
• Exposure: No specific asbestos fiber type, product or job was examined. The subject was compensation for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM): acupuncture, massage therapy, naturopathy, dietary supplements, traditional Chinese medicine and homoeopathy.
• Main results:
  • The DDB approved CAM claims if the CAM was justifiable and related to compensable asbestos-related diseases, such as asbestosis, diffuse pleural thickening, malignant mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer.
  • Approval required a written recommendation letter from the treating medical doctor justifying the CAM and stating that it posed no adverse effects on the patient.
  • Further DDB conditions included: the doctor's recommendations on dosage and quantity; a CAM supplier who was not a family member; recommended items limited to those on the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved supplements list; a supplier accredited by the Work Cover Authority of NSW; a treatment plan giving sessions, frequency and expected outcomes; and a review by the treating doctor every 6 months.
  • The DDB also covered hospital and medical costs, and health-care and domestic-assistance services, for workers with compensable occupational lung diseases.
• The authors' conclusion: Citing other published studies, the authors concluded that CAM does not significantly improve overall survival in asbestos-related diseases but somewhat relieves symptoms and improves quality of life. They said that awareness of the scheme's provisions should be raised, that CAM use and side effects should be monitored, that caution is advised, and that further follow-up study is needed.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that there are limited data on CAM use in people with asbestos-related diseases.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Incidence, Overall Survival, Quality of Life.

Related studies

• Patterns of care for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients compensated by the Dust Diseases Board in New South Wales, Australia — S.C. Kao, S. Clarke, et al. (2013)
• Validation of prognostic factors in malignant pleural mesothelioma: a retrospective analysis of data from patients seeking compensation from the New South Wales Dust Diseases Board — S.C. Kao, J. Vardy, et al. (2013)
• Workers' compensation for nonmalignant asbestos-related lung disease — C. Nevitt, W. Daniell, et al. (1994)
• Compensation for asbestos-related diseases--the U.K. model — M. Britton (1989)
• Lump sum compensation for asbestos related lung disease — T. Williams, P. Slade, et al. (1998)
• Hyperventilation in men claiming compensation for benign asbestos-related diseases — G.K. Crompton (2010)

Browse return to medical research.