A large-scale survey among cancer sufferers is to be carried out in Shanghai as medical chiefs seek more effective treatments for the debilitating disease.
Starting next month, the survey will be conducted among 10,000 cancer patients in China's financial hub and neighboring cities.
Now the organizers - Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Green Valley Corporation - are enrolling volunteers and patients willing to participate in the survey.
"The survey will follow each participating patient for a year," said Yuan Zhengping, director of the club. "Such a large-scale survey is unprecedented in China."
The survey will be composed of questions on non-medical methods (such as physical training and attitudes) in determining their contribution to the recovery of cancer patients.
Other questions will center on the importance of social support and family care, and the relationship between C-type character (reserved, unwilling to vent their unhappiness) and cancer cells.
Statistics show the city's incidence of cancer is among the highest in China.
Every year, 43,000 local residents fall victim to the disease, 34,000 of whom later die. And this number is continuing to rise.
Research has found that a majority of Chinese cancer patients survive operations, and the radiotherapy or chemotherapy periods. Instead, they succumb while recuperating after routine hospital treatment.
Yuan said: ''How to help them better recover after receiving routine treatment in hospital is especially important."
(China Daily February 08, 2002)
