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Abstract
The study assessed: (1) the prevalence of exclusive use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), exclusive use of modern medicine and combined use; (2) the factors associated with exclusive CAM use; and (3) the expenditure for CAM use among type-2 diabetes patients in rural Kerala. We surveyed 400 diabetes patients selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Exclusive CAM use was reported by 9%, exclusive modern medicine by 61% and combined use by 30%. Patients without any co-morbidity were four times, those having regular income were three times and those who reported regular exercise were three times more likely to use exclusive CAM compared with their counterparts. Expense for medicines was not significantly different for CAM compared with modern medicine both in government and private sector. Patients with any co-morbidity were less likely to use CAM indicating that CAM use was limited to milder cases of diabetes.
Highlights
India is the second largest country in the world after China with an estimated 69.2 million adults with type-2 diabetes [1]
The objectives of the present study were to find out: (1) the prevalence of exclusive use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), exclusive use of modern medicine and combined use; (2) the factors associated with exclusive CAM use; and (3) the expenditure for CAM use among type-2 diabetic patients in rural Kerala
The previous study from urban Kerala using a small sample of 50 diabetes patients [23] reported a prevalence of 20%, which was lower than the present study result of 39%
Summary
India is the second largest country in the world after China with an estimated 69.2 million adults with type-2 diabetes [1]. It is a major public health problem that requires regular medication along with lifestyle modification in order to achieve adequate control. In developing countries such as India, access to modern medicine is limited in the public sector and patients usually approach private sector including all systems of medicine. The major reasons for using CAM for the treatment of diabetes were fear about side effects, dissatisfaction with healthcare providers and higher costs of modern medicine [3,4,5]. Other reasons were higher level of medication adherence along with better understanding of the need for lifestyle changes for diabetes management during CAM treatment [6] and easy availability of CAM without the prescription of a doctor [7]
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