Use of complementary and alternative medicine during pregnancy and delivery

Abstract

In accordance with earlier studies from Germany, we determined the most important methods used in the field of obstetrics. Interestingly, these are not evidence-based and those methods which are evidence-based are not now used. Also, the predictors of CAM use in pregnancy were similar to those in oncology. Future studies should focus on the safety and efficacy of CAM in pregnancy.

The effects of yoga in prevention of pregnancy complications in high-risk pregnancies: A randomized controlled trial

“…Previous studies have investigated the effects of acupuncture (Betts et al, 2012;Borup et al, 2009), homeopathy (Hochstrasser and Mattmann, 1994), Ayurveda (Jayashree, 2008), yoga (Narendran et al, 2005b;Rakhshani et al, 2010), and Qigong (Zhou and Lian, 1989) during pregnancy (Bishop et al, 2011;Kalder et al, 2011;Steel and Adams, 2011). Such interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing occurrences of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (Hofmeyr et al, 2010;Zhou and Lian, 1989), preventing preterm deliveries (Hochstrasser and Mattmann, 1994;Imdad et al, 2011;Sibai, 2011), improving fetal outcomes (Hochstrasser and Mattmann, 1994;Sabour et al, 2006), and enhance quality of life (Rakhshani, 2013;Rakhshani et al, 2010).…”

Evaluating the Demand for Integrative Medicine Practices in Breast and Gynecological Cancer Patients

“…Nevertheless, prevalence rates vary widely throughout the literature, mostly due to the lack of a consistent definition of CAM and associated modalities, as well as differences in ethnic and cultural attitude towards complementary health approaches. Following the example of previous studies, we referred to CAM according to its NCCIH definition [6,43,44], and we invite future researchers to do the same in order to establish a uniform definition of CAM.…”

Complementary and Alternative Medicine use in women during pregnancy: do their healthcare providers know?

“…This lack of knowledge poses a unique challenge to women and health care providers [3]. During their pregnancies, many women are concerned about the potentially harmful effects of conventional medicine on their babies [4] but, because CAM is often thought of as natural and without risk [5,6], women frequently are not aware of the possible negative effects of their CAM use [7]. …”

“…In studies of CAM use from countries outside the US, 50-70% of pregnant women studied were found to use at least one type of CAM [7,13-15]. A UK study found that despite these high levels of use, most obstetrical providers did not ask about CAM use during pregnancy, and one-third of mothers did not disclose their CAM use to their obstetrical providers [15].…”

“…A UK study found that despite these high levels of use, most obstetrical providers did not ask about CAM use during pregnancy, and one-third of mothers did not disclose their CAM use to their obstetrical providers [15]. A variety of predictors of maternal CAM use have been found, including higher education, ethnicity, and income in Germany [7], parity, higher education, and CAM use before pregnancy in the UK [15], and higher education and Caucasian origin in Switzerland [14]. The most common types of CAM used during pregnancy varied amongst the countries [16].…”