P1140 Complementary and alterantive medicicne in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Poland

Abstract

Abstract Background There is an increasing interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients with chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We decided to investigate this problem because there is still not much data on this interesting and underestimated topic. Methods This single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2021 and June 2022 among patients of the Department of Gastroenterology of the National Institute of Medicine of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, both hospitalized and outpatients. Patients with IBD were asked to complete an anonymous survey that included questions about the use of CAM, their type and reason for use. The questionnaire also included data on the course of the disease, treatment and socio-demographic information. The results of qualitative variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages. We used the chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results 435 patients were included in the study: 203 women (46.9%) and 230 men (53.1%). In this group, there were 250 (58.5%) with Crohn's disease (CD) and 177 (41.5%) with ulcerative colitis (UC). The average duration of the disease is 10.9 years. A little more than a half of patients received immunosuppressive and biological treatment. Among respondents, 66.9% (291) had ever used CAM. CAM was statistically more frequently used by people treated with immunosuppressive 60.26% (p=0.002) and biological drugs 72.51% (p=0.004), as well as people with higher education 71.75% (p=0.006) and secondary education 58.97 % (p=0.009), living in large cities 73.63% (p=0.006) and earning the highest income 85.51% (p<0.001). Age, gender, disease duration, use of other drugs (5-ASA, steroids) and disease diagnosis (UC vs. CD) did not influence the use of CAM. As many as 74.1% of CAM users use various types of dietary supplements. 61.5% of respondents follow special diets, 56.9% take probiotics, and 53.4% take herbs. Patients most often gain knowledge about CAM from other patients, family members (76.3%) and from the Internet (76.3%). The treatment is carried out independently, without medical supervision, and only 62.1% of patients inform the gastroenterologist about the use of CAM. Conclusion Our research shows that CAM is very often used by IBD patients in Poland, especially among patients with severe disease treated with immunosuppressive and biological therapy. This is particularly important for patient safety, taking into account the possible risk of interactions with conventional drugs and the usually lack of medical supervision.