Use of complementary and alternative medicines by patients with orthopaedic disorders in western part of India: a cross sectional study

Abstract

Medicine (NCCAM) defines CAM as a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not presently, considered to be a part of conventional medicine. 1 Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine while Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. 1Studies have documented that about half the population of many industrialized countries use traditional, complementary and alternative medicine and the proportion is as high as 80% in many developing countries.2 It is being widely used in India and about 2860 hospitals provide CAM services. 3,4 Herbal medicines are increasingly becoming popular as alternative medicines and estimated one third adult population from developing countries and 80% from developed countries are using herbs as an alternative medicines often in combination with allopathic drugs which may lead to herb drug interaction by affecting pharmacokinetic and / or pharmacodynamic properties. 5Rheumatologic diseases are chronic and usually progressive conditions cause pain, physical disability and dependence on medications which do not always provide ABSTRACT Background: Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are consumed all over the world for variety of health problems. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and pattern of CAM in patients with orthopaedic disorders. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out at outpatient department of Orthopaedics at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Data was collected with help of questionnaire which contained sociodemographic details and details of use of CAM if any by the attending patients. Data was analysed for sociodemographic and clinical characters, pattern of use of CAM, source of information and reasons for using CAM. Results: Out of 500 participants 196 (39.2 %) reported use of CAM. Mean age of participants was 42.6±19.8 (mean±SD) years and 130 (66.3%) users were women. Illiterate patients (57%) were the most frequent users of CAM. About 77% of patients aged 60 years and above used CAM. Fibromyalgia (48%) was the commonest condition for CAM use. Folk medicines (46%) and ayurvedic medicines (45%) were most commonly used CAM. Advice from friends/relatives was the commonest source of information. None of the respondents had knowledge of adverse effects of CAM used by them and about 70% did not inform their doctor about use of CAM. Conclusions: Use of CAM is highly prevalent in patients with orthopaedic disorders, women, illiterate and elderly being the more likely users. Concurrent use of folk remedies with allopathic medicines has potential for interactions between the two. History of use of CAM should be obtained as a routine from patients with musculoskeletal complaints.

Rates, patterns, and predictors of complementary medicine use among patients with musculoskeletal diseases

“…Our findings concord with Herman et al that there is no association between using CM and income [41]. A study from India found a high proportion of CM use among those with low monthly income, which could be attributed to CM's accessibility and affordability [42], as is the case in Jordan [17,43] and other Arab countries [44] where certain plant-based preparations are deeply rooted in the tradition of disease treatment, making medicinal herbs more accessible and affordable. In contrast, more expensive supplements, such as glucosamine and chondroitin [41], are uncommon treatments in Jordan and were utilized by a negligible proportion of patients in this study.…”