Complementary and alternative medicine use amongst Malaysian orthopaedic oncology patients

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Vivek Ajit Singh¹  Tze Lek Yong²  Isaac Shi Zhung Lee²  Amreeta Dhanoa²  Stephanie Jin Leng Yeap² 

[1]Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (Noceral), University of Malaya Medical Centre, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[2]Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia

关键词: Complementary medicine;    Alternative;    Orthopaedic;    Oncology;    Cancer;    Tumour;    CAM;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-404

 received in 2014-07-25, accepted in 2014-09-22,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAlthough studies have shown that a large proportion of cancer patients use CAM, no study on CAM use amongst orthopaedic oncology patients has been published. Therefore, this study aims to determine the prevalence, characteristics and factors associated with CAM use amongst orthopaedic oncology patients.MethodsAll consecutive consenting patients/parents who presented at the Orthopaedic Oncology Clinic, University Malaya Medical Centre (1st January to 31st December 2013) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.ResultsOverall, one hundred sixty-eight of the 274 patients recruited (61.3%) had used CAM at some time during their current illness. The prevalence of CAM used was 68% (123/181) for patients with malignant tumours and 48.4% (45/93) for patients with benign tumours. The most popular CAMs were biological-based therapies (90.5%), followed by mind-body techniques (40.5%). The most frequently used biological therapies were mega/multivitamins (31%), snakehead (Chana striatus) (28%) and sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) (18%); whereas prayers (31%) and holy water (13%) dominated the mind-body category. Common reasons for CAM use were to improve physical well-being (60.1%), try out everything that would help (59.5%) and to enhance wound-healing (39.3%). Independent predictors for CAM use in multivariate analysis were paediatric patients [OR 2.46; 95% CI 0.99–6.06; p = 0.05], malignant tumours [OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.12–3.25; p = 0.018] and patients who underwent surgery [OR 2.06; 95% CI 1.15–3.69; p = 0.015]. Majority patients started taking CAMs following suggestions from family members (53%) and friends (49%). Sixty-six percent of patients felt they actually benefitted from CAM and 83.3% were satisfied/very satisfied. Only 5 patients reported side-effects. Majority of CAM users planned to continue CAM use or recommend it to others. However, only 31.5% of patients disclosed their CAM usage to their doctors.ConclusionsThis survey revealed a high prevalence of CAM usage amongst orthopaedic oncology patients, with majority patients expressing satisfaction towards CAM. Oncologists should proactively ask patients about CAM to prevent potential adverse effects, as most patients do not share this information with them.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Dhanoa et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014