scholarly journals The prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use in the general population of Babol, North of Iran, 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reihaneh Moeini ◽  
Seyyed Ali Mozaffarpur ◽  
Morteza Mojahedi ◽  
Seyed Davoud Nasrolahpour Shirvani ◽  
Narjes Gorji ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) have recently become more popular and accepted worldwide. One principal step to identify the status and organize strategies of CAM is evaluating the manner and the prevalence of its usage among people. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CAM modalities usage by the people of Babol, a central city in the North of Iran, in 2018. Methods Using the original International CAM Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q), a questionnaire was redesigned in Persian (Farsi) with some changes such as adding special modalities in Iran and its validity and reliability were assessed. Six hundred households were evaluated using a cluster sampling method in 2018 spring by 12 trained interviewers. Results Finally, 1770 questionnaires were correctly completed. A total of 110 participants (6.21% of the completed questionnaires) had visited CAM therapists in the last year, 109 persons (6.15%) had received prescriptions from physicians and paramedics to use CAM, and a total of 1032 people (58.30%) used herbs and herbal medicines in the last 12 months. Also, 1265 individuals (71.46%) had used CAM throughout their lives. The most popular methods were herbal medicine (65.76%), Persian Medicine (13.78%), water therapy (10.45%) and music therapy (8.36%). The use of CAM was more popular among women. Conclusions The general use of CAM in Babol was similar to other studies, but there were fewer visits by CAM therapists and less frequent adoption of common methods including homeopathy, acupuncture, and energy therapy. It was found that CAM was mostly used for non-serious diseases such as cold and transient gastrointestinal disorders, a pattern that is different from other studies in this field.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Lingjing Lu ◽  
Juan Li ◽  
Yu Zhou ◽  
Hongxia Ma ◽  
Min Hu

Threatened miscarriage is one of the most common complications causing pregnancy loss, and it affects approximately 20% of confirmed pregnancies. More and more women are seeking treatment with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for this common complication, and it has been reported that women have had successful pregnancies after threatened miscarriage when being treated with CAM, which mainly includes Chinese herbal medicines, acupuncture, and nutritional supplements as well as psychological interventions and other approaches. However, many experts are concerned about the safety and adverse events of certain CAM approaches in women with threatened miscarriage. Therefore, this review focuses on the status of CAM for threatened miscarriage and presents the potential therapeutic efficacy and safety of CAM based on some clinical and experimental studies. We thus hope to provide some instructive suggestions for the application of CAM for treating threatened miscarriage in the future.


Author(s):  
Kalpana D. Shere-Wolfe

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not currently considered part of conventional medicine. If a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine, it is considered “complementary.” If a non-mainstream practice is used in place of conventional medicine, it is considered “alternative.” Many patients use CAM approaches to their care. Often, patients do not disclose what methods they are using, and providers may have little knowledge of the effects of alternative medications. Interactions with antiretroviral therapy and other medications are important to the care of the patient. Physicians need to routinely ask about CAM use, particularly herbal medicines and supplements.


Author(s):  
N. Vishnu ◽  
G. K. Mini ◽  
K. R. Thankappan

The study assessed: (1) the prevalence of exclusive use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), exclusive use of modern medicine and combined use; (2) the factors associated with exclusive CAM use; and (3) the expenditure for CAM use among type-2 diabetes patients in rural Kerala. We surveyed 400 diabetes patients selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Exclusive CAM use was reported by 9%, exclusive modern medicine by 61% and combined use by 30%. Patients without any co-morbidity were four times, those having regular income were three times and those who reported regular exercise were three times more likely to use exclusive CAM compared with their counterparts. Expense for medicines was not significantly different for CAM compared with modern medicine both in government and private sector. Patients with any co-morbidity were less likely to use CAM indicating that CAM use was limited to milder cases of diabetes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (E) ◽  
pp. 521-527
Author(s):  
Zafar Rasheed ◽  
Mohammed Al-Rashidy ◽  
Anas Al-Raqibah ◽  
Abdulrahman Al-Moqbel ◽  
Abdulmajeed Al-Bakri ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients have always been reported to have multiple complications and the treatment has always seemed challenging. The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy has widely accepted by the patients with various disorders. AIM: This study evaluated the experience of cancer patients for the usage of CAM therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study designed to determine the experience of cancer patients for the usage of CAM therapy. RESULTS: Out of 232 cancer patients, 94% were urban residents and were non-smokers. Importantly, 66.4% of cancer patients experienced that the combination of CAM with conventional chemotherapy was effective for their treatment. Among all CAM therapies, 31.5% cancer patients experienced that herbal medicines/herbs were good. Among herbal therapies, green tea and black seeds were most effective for cancer patients. In contrast, 12.5% patients experienced that homeopathic medicines were good for their treatment. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study from Saudi Arabia to show the experience of cancer patients toward the usage of CAM therapy. Most of the cancer patients experienced that CAM therapies with the convention chemotherapy were effective for their treatment. Among all studied CAM therapies, green tea and black seeds were suggested by most of the cancer patients for their treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Bo-Young Youn ◽  
Seongwan Ju ◽  
Shinhyoung Joo ◽  
Hoseok Kang ◽  
Kiyoung Jeon ◽  
...  

The objective of the study was to explore the status of usage of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among Korean elite athletes. A survey was emailed to all Korean national sports federations recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia. A total of 705 Korean elite athletes participated in this study. The athletes had to be any of the following to participate in this survey: elite intercollegiate athletes, professional athletes, and national team athletes. 83.3% of the participants stated that they have previously experienced Korean medicine (KM). Compared to the general population in Korea, athletes had more experience (general population = 73.8%). The participants without experience mentioned that they either did not need any KM treatments (39.8%) or lacked information (39.8%) regarding KM treatments. The primary reason for the utilization of KM was the effectiveness of treatments. Therefore, 70.8% of the participants have mentioned recommending KM to others. Generally, athletes are worrisome that the consumption of herbal medicine may not be doping-free; however, it is vital to note that 62% of the participants expressed that prescribed herbal medicine is safe. Overall, this research demonstrates a high prevalence of KM usage by intercollegiate, professional, and national team athletes in Korea. Hence, this study’s results may serve as the foundation in future research directions for promoting KM among Korean elite athletes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giada Belletti ◽  
Seyed Afshin Shorofi ◽  
Paul Arbon ◽  
Alberto Dal Molin

Background: Patients are showing an increasing interest in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Most nurses are open to the adoption of CAM into clinical nursing practice, but they may experience a lack of knowledge about the safe and effective use of these therapies. Several studies concerning nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward CAM have been published, but only in one, the authors (Shorofi and Arbon) used a validated questionnaire. In Italy, there are no validated questionnaires to investigate this aspect of nursing practice. Purpose: To test the psychometric properties of the Italian Shorofi and Arbon questionnaire for use with Italian nurses. Methods: A forward–backward translation method was used to translate the questionnaire from English to Italian. Content validity, face validity and reliability were established. Results and Conclusions: This study examined the potential usefulness of the Shorofi and Arbon questionnaire for the evaluation of CAM knowledge of Italian speaking nurses, which showed good content validity and good reliability.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 246-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aron Jarvis ◽  
Rachel Perry ◽  
Debbie Smith ◽  
Rohini Terry ◽  
Sarah Peters

AimTo investigate GPs’ beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and its role in clinical practice.BackgroundDespite the prevalence of CAM in the United Kingdom, little is known about GPs beliefs regarding these alternative approaches to patient management and how they view it in relation to their clinical conduct and practice.MethodA qualitative study conducted on 19 GPs recruited from the North West of England. Semi-structured telephone interviews were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThree themes emerged from the data: limited evidence base, patient demand and concerns over regulation.ConclusionDespite recognising the limited evidence base of CAM, GPs continue to see a role for it within clinical practice. This is not necessarily led by patient demand that is highly related to affluence. However, GPs raised concerns over the regulation of CAM practitioners and CAM therapies.


Author(s):  
Mahlagha Dehghan ◽  
Sima Mokhtarabadi ◽  
Fatemeh Ghaedi Heidari

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to determine the status of utilizing some complementary and alternative medicine techniques in infertile couples.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted on 250 infertile couples referred to a hospital in Kerman using convenience sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to study the prevalence and user satisfaction of complementary and alternative medicines.ResultsResults indicated that 49.6% of the infertile couples used at least one of the complementary and alternative medicines during the past year. Most individuals used spiritual techniques (71.8% used praying and 70.2% used Nazr) and medicinal plants (54.8%). Safety is the most important factor affecting the satisfaction of infertile couples with complementary treatments (couples think that such treatments are safe (54.8%)).DiscussionConcerning high prevalence of complementary and alternative treatments in infertile couples, incorporating such treatments into the healthcare education and promoting the awareness of infertile individuals seem crucial.


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