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The Prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in the General Population of Babol, North of Iran, 2018 Publisher Pubmed



Moeini R1 ; Mozaffarpur SA1 ; Mojahedi M1 ; Nasrolahpour Shirvani SD2 ; Gorji N1 ; Saghebi R3 ; Abolhassani Shahreza F4 ; Shirafkan H5
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
  2. 2. Healthcare Services Management, Department of General Courses, School of Medicine, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
  3. 3. Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. Internal Medicine, National Institute for Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

Source: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies Published:2021


Abstract

Background: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) have recently become more popular and accepted worldwide. One principal step to identify the status and organize strategies of CAM is evaluating the manner and the prevalence of its usage among people. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CAM modalities usage by the people of Babol, a central city in the North of Iran, in 2018. Methods: Using the original International CAM Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q), a questionnaire was redesigned in Persian (Farsi) with some changes such as adding special modalities in Iran and its validity and reliability were assessed. Six hundred households were evaluated using a cluster sampling method in 2018 spring by 12 trained interviewers. Results: Finally, 1770 questionnaires were correctly completed. A total of 110 participants (6.21% of the completed questionnaires) had visited CAM therapists in the last year, 109 persons (6.15%) had received prescriptions from physicians and paramedics to use CAM, and a total of 1032 people (58.30%) used herbs and herbal medicines in the last 12 months. Also, 1265 individuals (71.46%) had used CAM throughout their lives. The most popular methods were herbal medicine (65.76%), Persian Medicine (13.78%), water therapy (10.45%) and music therapy (8.36%). The use of CAM was more popular among women. Conclusions: The general use of CAM in Babol was similar to other studies, but there were fewer visits by CAM therapists and less frequent adoption of common methods including homeopathy, acupuncture, and energy therapy. It was found that CAM was mostly used for non-serious diseases such as cold and transient gastrointestinal disorders, a pattern that is different from other studies in this field. © 2021, The Author(s).
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