Symptom Burden and Integrative Medicine Consultations Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: Experience from a Tertiary Care Center.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer experience substantial symptom burden. Integrative medicine (IM) offers evidence-based symptom management, yet real-world data in AYAs are limited. We retrospectively examined initial IM visits for AYAs (15-39 years) at a tertiary cancer center, abstracting demographics, clinical characteristics, symptoms, and discussions/recommendations. Among 272 AYAs (59.6% female), 42.7% had three concurrent symptoms, most commonly nausea, gastrointestinal issues, and pain. Discussions addressed diet (91.2%), supplements (87.5%), and stress management (77.2%). Nearly half (46.0%) received at least one IM referral, most commonly acupuncture and massage (24.6% each). IM interventions may support symptom management in AYA oncology care.