Traditional Chinese Medicine: Great trust, little evidence

Studies & Further Education People in Austria have great confidence in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), diagnostic and therapeutic methods of TCM should also be strengthened further in national healthcare systems. A recent publication by MedUni Vienna found a clear divergence between the perceived and actual scientific character of TCM. The study was carried out as part of of the elective course in "Complementary Medicine: Esoterism and Evidence" at MedUni Vienna, where students deal with the distinction between esotericism and evidence in alternative healing methods such as TCM. The results of the study were published in the British Medical Journal Open. 1,382 people in Austria were interviewed about their use and assessment of Chinese Traditional Medicine procedures for the study by the team led by Harald Sitte (Institute of Pharmacology at MedUni Vienna). In order to obtain a representative sample, the results were weighted using data from Statistics Austria.