RT Journal Article
A1 Beidelschies, Michelle
A1 Alejandro-Rodriguez, Marilyn
A1 Ji, Xinge
A1 Lapin, Brittany
A1 Hanaway, Patrick
A1 Rothberg, Michael B.
T1 Association of the Functional Medicine Model of Care With Patient-Reported Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes
JF JAMA Network Open
JO JAMA Netw Open
YR 2019
DO 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.14017
VO 2
IS 10
SP e1914017
OP e1914017
SN 2574-3805
AB The incidence of chronic disease is increasing along with health care–related costs. The functional medicine model of care provides a unique operating system to reverse illness, promote health, and optimize function. The association between this model of care and patient’s health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is unknown.To assess the association between functional medicine and patient-reported HRQoL using Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) global health measures.A retrospective cohort study was performed to compare 7252 patients aged 18 years or older treated in a functional medicine setting with propensity score (PS)–matched patients in a primary care setting. Sensitivity analyses assessed improvement limited to patients seen at both 6 and 12 months. The study included patients who visited the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine or a Cleveland Clinic family health center between April 1, 2015, and March 1, 2017.The primary outcome was change in PROMIS Global Physical Health (GPH) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included PROMIS Global Mental Health (GMH) at 6 months and PROMIS GPH and GMH at 12 months. The PROMIS GPH and GMH scores were transformed to a T-score from 0 to 100 with a mean of 50. Higher scores indicate a better health-related quality of life.Of the 7252 patients (functional medicine center: 1595; family health center: 5657), 4780 (65.9%) were women; mean (SD) age was 54.1 (16.0) years. At 6 months, functional medicine patients exhibited significantly larger improvements in PROMIS GPH T-score points than were seen in patients treated at a family health center (mean [SD] change, functional medicine center: 1.59 [6.29] vs family health center: 0.33 [6.09], P = .004 in 398 PS-matched pairs). At 12 months, functional medicine patients showed improvement similar to that observed at 6 months; however, comparisons with patients seen at the family health center were not significant. Patients in the functional medicine center with data at both 6 and 12 months demonstrated improvements in PROMIS GPH (mean [SD], 2.61 [6.53]) that were significantly larger compared with patients seen at a family health center (mean [SD], 0.25 [6.54]) (P = .02 in 91 PS-matched pairs).In this study, the functional medicine model of care demonstrated beneficial and sustainable associations with patient-reported HRQoL. Prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.
RD 5/19/2022
UL https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.14017