Prevalence and determinants of use of complementary and alternative medicine by hypertensive patients attending primary health care facilities in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a cross-sectional study

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Mala A. Mapatano¹  Aimée M. Lulebo¹  Paulin B. Mutombo¹  Eric M. Mafuta¹  Gédéon Samba²  Yves Coppieters³ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Kinshasa School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, PO Box11850, Kinshasa1, Democratic Republic of the Congo;Programme National de lutte contre les maladies tropicales négligées, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo;School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium;

关键词: Hypertension;    Complementary and alternative medicine;    Medication adherence;    DRC;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12906-017-1722-3

 received in 2016-09-23, accepted in 2017-04-04,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn the Democratic Republic of the Congo the control of hypertension is poor, characterized by an increasing number of reported cases of hypertension related complications. Poor control of hypertension is associated with non-adherence to antihypertensive medication. It is well established that the use of complementary and alternative medicine is one of the main factors of non-adherence to antihypertensive medication. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the use of complementary and alternative medicine.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out at the Kinshasa Primary Health-care (KPHC) facilities network in November 2014. A structured interview questionnaire was administrated to a total of 280hypertensive patients. Complementary and alternative medicine were defined according to the National Institute of Health classification as a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Data were summarized using proportion and mean (with standard deviation). The student’s t test and χ2 test were used respectively for mean and proportion comparison. Logistic regression analysis identified determinants of the use of complementary and alternative medicine.ResultsThe prevalence of use of complementary and alternative medicine was 26.1% (95% CI: 20.7% - 31.8%).Determinants of use of complementary and alternative medicine included misperception about hypertension curability (OR = 2.1; 95%CI: 1.1-3.7) and experience of medication side effects (OR = 2.9; 95%CI: 1.7-5.1).ConclusionThe use of CAM for hypertensive patients is a major problem; antihypertensives with fewer side effects must be emphasized. Religious leaders must become involved in the communication for behavioral change activities to improve the quality of life for hypertensive patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017