Better Outcomes for Functional Medicine Patients?

According to a recent study, patients treated in functional medicine centers scored higher in various indices than those in family health centers, suggesting that functional medicine may have the ability to improve global health in patients.   

The researchers compared two groups of patients: one group seen in a functional medicine center that focused on nutritional, behavioral, and lifestyle interventions and the second group seen in a family health center focused on primary care. The researchers addressed biases between the two groups due to different motivations related to engagement and self-management of medical care by matching patients on propensity score to balance the baseline differences in demographics at each location (age, sex, race, marital status, income, and comorbidities such as diabetes, depression, and hypertension).

Researchers used the PROMIS survey (Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System) to measure the global physical and mental health of patients. They found that at six months, functional medicine patients exhibited significantly larger improvements in the PROMIS score than did patients treated in family health centers. However, the 12-month follow-up found that the patients at the center for functional medicine showed improvements similar to the six-month measurement but not significantly different from those at the family health center. 

The researchers believe the results indicate that the functional medicine model of care may have beneficial and sustainable associations with improved health-related quality-of-life outcomes in patients and could improve chronic disease management.