MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study was conducted to analyze data on the utilization of T&CM services within public hospitals. Secondary data on 822 patients' satisfaction with services offered at 15 T&CM units was analyzed to examine the overall levels of satisfaction with T&CM services in public hospitals in Malaysia.
RESULTS: Overall, 99.4% of patients were satisfied with T&CM services and most patients (91.8%) felt that T&CM treatment positively impacted their health. Overall satisfaction was not affected by lower levels of satisfaction with subcategories of service, such as the number of treatment sessions received (90.7% satisfied), date to the next appointment (90.7% satisfied), and the absence of adverse effects of treatment received (87.1% satisfied). There were no significant associations between the socioeconomic status of the respondents and the level of satisfaction reported; however, respondents with a monthly salary of Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 1000 to RM 3000 were more than twice as likely to be strongly satisfied with services received (adjusted odds ratios [AOR]: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.19-3.78).
CONCLUSION: This study revealed a high level of satisfaction among patients who had received T&CM treatment at public hospitals in Malaysia. High satisfaction with T&CM treatment validates the integrative management approach adopted in patient care within the public hospitals in Malaysia.
METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 725 postpartum mothers, aged 18 and above, attending a primary-care clinic. The systematic sampling method was used to recruit patients through a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of CAM use among postpartum mothers.
RESULTS: The prevalence of CAM use among postpartum mothers was 85.5%. Manipulative body therapies, including massage, reflexology, hot stone compression and body wrapping were the most widely used methods of CAM (84.1%) among postpartum mothers, followed by biological-based therapies (33.1%). More than half of the respondents (52.1%) opted to use CAM, as they had observed good results from other CAM users. However, our study showed that 57.1% of mothers who consumed herbal medicine reported neonatal jaundice in their newborn. The median of the expenditure on CAM usage was 250 Malaysian Ringgits, or USD 61.3 per month. According to multiple logistic regression analyses, being Muslim (OR = 5.258, 95% CI: 2.952-9.368), being Malay (OR = 4.414, 95% CI: 1.18-16.56), having a higher educational level (OR = 2.561, 95% CI: 1.587-4.133) and having delivered via spontaneous vaginal delivery (OR: 5.660, 95% CI: 3.454-9.276) had a significantly positive association with CAM use among postpartum mothers.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of CAM use was high (8 out of 10) among postpartum mothers. Postpartum mothers who are Malay, Muslim, have a higher educational level and who have had spontaneous vaginal delivery tended to use CAM more. Manipulative body therapies, including massage, reflexology, hot stone compression and body wrapping, were the most widely used forms of CAM, followed by biological-based therapies. More than half of the mothers who consumed herbal medicine reported neonatal jaundice in their newborn. Thus, education to increase awareness regarding the consumption of herbs is urgently required in this country.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by enrolling 937 students, pharmacy (437) and non-pharmacy (500), of Punjab University, Lahore. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS. (IBM v22).
RESULTS: Data suggested that majority of students knew about the use of traditional herbs and considered massage (P: 84.4%, NP: 82%, p = 0.099), homeopathy, herbs (P: 86.5%, NP: 81%, p = 0.064], yoga [P: 357 (81.7%), NP: 84%), p = 0.42] and spiritual healing (P: 85.6%, NP: 86.2%, p = 0.55) as effective and least harmful CAM modalities. The pharmacy students had better knowledge about CAM modalities compared to non-pharmacy students. Despite utilizing non-reliable sources of CAM information and their belief that CAM is practiced by quacks, the majority of students had positive attitudes and perceptions about CAM usage. Students also believed that CAM had a positive impact on health outcomes [P: 3.19 ± 1.04, NP: 3.02 ± 1.09, p = 0.008] and acceded to include CAM in the pharmacy curriculum. However, non-pharmacy students scored higher in their beliefs that CAM usage should be discouraged due to the non-scientific basis of CAM (P: 3.04 ± 0.97, NP: 3.17 ± 1.02, p = 0.028) and a possible threat to public health (P: 3.81 ± 1.74, NP: 4.06 ± 1.56, p = 0.02). On the other hand, pharmacy students believed that patients might get benefits from CAM modalities (P: 4.31 ± 1.48, NP: 4.12 ± 1.45, p = 0.02). Majority of students perceived that spiritual healing is the most useful and safer CAM modality, while acupuncture (P: 25.4%, NP: 21.8%, p = 0.0005), hypnosis (P: 26.8%, NP: 19.6%, p = 0.001) and chiropractic (P: 18.8%, NP: 11.6%, p = 0.0005) were among the harmful ones.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, despite poor knowledge about CAM, students demonstrated positive attitudes and beliefs regarding CAM. They exhibited better awareness about yoga, spiritual healing/prayer, herbs, and massage. Students also showed willingness to advance their knowledge about CAM and favored its inclusion in the curriculum.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among undergraduate pharmacy students in a public university in Malaysia using a validated and pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The study was conducted in November and December 2019. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests.
RESULTS: Of the 318 female undergraduate students invited, 219 completed the questionnaire (response rate: 68.9%) with 52% aged between 21 and 23 years. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 72.1%, and the prevalence of ever-use and current use of CATs was 70.3 and 54.4%, respectively. Bed rest (71.5%), hot compress/heating pad (47.5%) and massage (43.0%) were the most common CATs used by the respondents. The most common reasons for using CAT were to reduce the need for analgesics (61.4%), efficacy (37.3%) and recommendation by others (32.9%). About 23 and 9% of the respondents believed that CATs were equally "effective" and "more effective" than analgesics, respectively. Reducing the need for analgesics (AOR: 4.066, 95% CI: 2.136-7.739) and those who agreed that CATs are effective (AOR: 2.701, 95% CI: 1.337-5.457) were independently associated with the current use CATs for the treatment of menstrual pain.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ever-use and current use of CATs is high among female undergraduate pharmacy students. Bed rest and heat applications are the most common CATs used. Reducing the need for analgesics and efficacy are the factors associated with the current use of CATs. Students should be educated about the safe and effective use of CATs to reduce adverse effects and improve their quality of life.
METHODS: All ADR associated with the use of CAM products (including health supplements) submitted to the Malaysian Centre for ADR Monitoring, National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency over a 15-year period were reviewed and analysed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of serious ADR.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: From a total of 74 997 reports in the database, 930 (1.2%) involved CAM products, and 242 (26%) were serious with 36 deaths. About a third of the reports involved used CAM products for health maintenance. Most (78.1%) of the ADR reports implicated unregistered products with 16.7% confirmed to contain adulterants which were mainly dexamethasone. Of the 930 reports, the ADR involved skin and appendages disorders (18.4%) followed by liver and biliary system disorders (13.7%). The odds of someone experiencing serious ADR increased if the CAM products were used for chronic illnesses (odds ratio [OR] 1.99, confidence interval [CI] 1.46-2.71), having concurrent diseases (OR 1.51, CI 1.04-2.19) and taking concurrent drugs (OR 1.44, CI 1.03-2.02).
WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of serious ADR associated with CAM products is high. Factors identified with serious ADR included ethnicity, CAM users with pre-existing diseases, use of CAM for chronic illnesses and concomitant use of CAM products with other drugs. The findings could be useful for planning strategies to institute measures to ensure safe use of CAM products.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 100 epilepsy patients, aged 18 years or older that did not have any physical or psychiatric illness. A patient-administered questionnaire was used to assess their knowledge, attitude towards, practice, and perceived effectiveness (KAPP) of CAM. Established adherence assessment tools were used to determine patient medication adherence.
RESULTS: The prevalence of CAM usage was found to be at 58%. CAM was used more frequently by males (n = 32, 60.4%) than by females (n = 26, 55.3%; p = 0.609). The most commonly used CAM included vitamins and minerals (36%), ginseng (16%), antioxidants (15%), and acupuncture (12%). A significant number of patients had low knowledge of (59%) and a positive attitude (54%) toward complementary and alternative medicine. Main reasons for using CAM were a lower price, better availability, and inadequate seizure control by AEDs. About 43% of the patients who used CAM informed their doctor. Prevalence of non-adherence to AED therapy was found to be 68%. A significant association was found between non-adherence and CAM usage (p
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted at a tertiary care centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia among parents of children with AE aged ≤ 12 years using validated questionnaires including Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-General) and Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) scale.
RESULTS: In total, 173 parents were recruited. The prevalence of CAM use over the last 12-month period was 46.8 %. The most commonly used CAM was Ruqyah (Islamic prayer), followed by Malay herbs, virgin coconut oil, nutritional therapy and homeopathy. AE severity from parental perspective was the major predictor of CAM use based on multiple logistic regression analysis. Parents of children with 'clear or almost clear' (adjusted OR 0.06; 95 % CI 0.01-0.54; p = 0.012) and 'mild' (adjusted OR 0.15; 95 % CI 0.03-0.85; p = 0.032) eczema were less likely to use CAM than those with 'very severe eczema'.
CONCLUSION: CAM use was prevalent among children with AE. Its use was significantly associated with AE severity from a parental perspective. Healthcare providers may need to enquire parents about CAM use for their child during routine clinic appointment.
METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involved interviewing newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) using a structured questionnaire. Eligible respondents were interviewedduring a routine clinical visit.
RESULTS: A total of 400 patients were interviewed, of whom 139 (34.8%) were CAM users. Dietary supplementation (n = 107, 77.0%) was the most frequently used type of CAM, followed by spiritual healing (n = 40, 28.8%) and traditional Chinese medicine (n = 32, 23.0%). Malay ethnic group (n = 61, 43.9%) was the largest group of CAM users, followed by Chinese (n = 57, 41.0%) and Indian (n = 20, 14.4%). Majority of these CAM users (n = 87, 73.1%) did not disclose the use of CAM to their doctors. Most of them used remedies based on the recommendation of family and friends. Malay ethnicity and patients with 3 or more comorbidities were more likely to use CAM.
CONCLUSION: There is substantial use of CAM among breast cancer patients in UMMC prior to seeking hospital treatment, and the most popular CAM modality is dietary supplements. Since, the majority of CAM users do not disclose the use of CAM to their physicians, therefore health care providers should ensure that those patients who are likely to use CAM are appropriately counseled and advised.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed at two chemotherapy providers. Patients were questioned about use of three categories of CAM, mind-body practices (MBPs), natural products (NPs) and traditional medicine (TM). PFH was also examined separately from CAM to better characterise the patterns of CAM and PFH used during chemotherapy.
RESULTS: A total of 546 eligible patients participated in the study; 70.7% (n = 386) reported using some form of CAM, and 29.3% (n = 160) were non-CAM users. When PFH was excluded as a CAM, fewer patients reported the use of CAM (66.1%; n = 361). The total number of patients who used MBPs decreased from 342 to 183. The most common CAM use category was NPs (82.8%), followed by MBPs (50.7%), and TM (35.7%). CAM users were more likely to have a tertiary education (OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.15-3.89 vs. primary/lower), have household incomes > RM 3,000 (≈944 USD) per month (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.40-3.84 vs. ≤RM 3,000 (≈944 USD)), and have advanced cancer (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.18-2.59 vs. early stage cancer), compared with non-CAM users. The CAM users were less likely to have their chemotherapy on schedule (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.10-0.58 vs. chemotherapy postponed) than non-CAM users. Most MBPs were perceived to be more helpful by their users, compared with the users of NPs and TM.
CONCLUSION: CAM use was prevalent among breast cancer patients. Excluding PFH from the definition of CAM reduced the prevalence of overall CAM use. Overall, CAM use was associated with higher education levels and household incomes, advanced cancer and lower chemotherapy schedule compliance. Many patients perceived MBP to be beneficial for improving overall well-being during chemotherapy. These findings, while preliminary, clearly indicate the differences in CAM use when PFH is included in, and excluded from, the definition of CAM.