Prevalence and correlates of complementary and alternative medicine use among diabetic patients in Beirut, Lebanon: a cross-sectional study

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Hikma Shoaib¹  Dana Mousa¹  Farah Naja¹  Yara Mourad²  Mohamad Alameddine²  Leila Itani³ 

[1] Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, 1107 2020, Riad El-Solh, Beirut, Lebanon;Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health Management and Policy, American University of Beirut, 1107 2020, Riad El-Solh, Beirut, Lebanon;Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Beirut Arab University, 1107 2809, Riad El-Solh, Beirut, Lebanon;

关键词: Complementary and alternative medicine;    Type-two diabetes mellitus;    Prevalence;    Patient safety;    Integration;    Policy;    Lebanon;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-185

 received in 2014-03-12, accepted in 2014-05-29,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPatients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) are increasingly using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies due to difficulty in adhering to the therapeutic regimens and lifestyle changes necessary for disease management. Little is known about the prevalence and mode of CAM use among patients with T2DM in Lebanon.ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence and modes of CAM use among patients with T2DM residing in Beirut, Lebanon.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of T2DM patients was conducted on patients recruited from two major referral centers in Beirut- a public hospital and a private academic medical center. In a face-to-face interview, participants completed a questionnaire comprised of three sections: socio-demographic, diabetes characteristics and types and modes of CAM use. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were utilized to assess the prevalence and correlates of CAM use, as well as whether the use was complementary or alternative to mainstream medicine. The main outcome in this study, CAM use, was defined as using CAM at least once since diagnosis with T2DM.ResultsA total of 333 T2DM patients completed the survey (response rate: 94.6%). Prevalence of CAM use since diagnosis with the disease was 38%. After adjustment, CAM use was significantly associated with a “married” status, a longer duration of T2DM, the presence of disease complications, and a positive family history of the disease. Folk foods and herbs were the most commonly used CAM followed by natural health products. One in five patients used CAM as alternative to conventional treatment. Only 7% of CAM users disclosed the CAM use to their treating physician. Health care practitioners were the least cited (7%) as influencing the choice of CAM among users.ConclusionThe use of CAM therapies among T2DM patients in Lebanon is prevalent. Decision makers and care providers must fully understand the potential risks and benefits of CAM therapies to appropriately advise their patients. Attention must be dedicated to educating T2DM patients on the importance of disclosing CAM use to their physicians especially patients with a family history of diabetes, and those who have had the disease for a long time.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Naja et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.