Department of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Oct 4;14:374. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-374.
The incidence of chronic illnesses has increased worldwide. Diabetes is one such illness and 80% of the diabetic population lives in the developing world. There is a rapidly growing trend towards the use of Complementary and Alternative Medical practices in Diabetes. Sri Lanka is a developing Asian nation with a rich culture of Ayurvedic and native medical culture. The objective of this study was to find the prevalence of use of CAMs in a diabetic population attending a large multiethnic diabetes facility in a University unit and to assess whether there is an increase in the incidence of hypoglycaemic episodes among users of CAMs.
A cross sectional study was performed at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya between April and August 2012. Following verbal consent, 254 type 2 adult diabetic patients attending the diabetes facility were interviewed regarding the use of CAM and hypoglycaemia using an interviewer-administered questionnaire.
Of the 252 valid results, 192 patients (76%) admitted to the use of a CAM to reduce blood glucose. Bitter gourd, ivy gourd and crepe ginger were used by 128, 113 and 92 individuals. While 19% used a single agent, 34%, 21% and 2.4% used 2,3 and more than 3 agents. The incidence of hypoglycaemia in CAM users was 21% and 16.6% in non-users. The difference was statistically not significant. (p = 0.57) Ingestion of Costus speciosus (Crepe ginger) was associated with higher incidence of hypoglycaemia (P = 0.01).Female gender was significantly associated with CAM use (p = 0.01), while the age, duration of diabetes, presence of co-morbidities and complications of diabetes failed to show a significant association.
Sri Lanka has a very high use of herbal supplementation in type 2 diabetes patients. Although the overall incidence of hypoglycaemia is not increased among CAM users, crepe ginger is associated with significant hypoglycaemia and warrants further research.
慢性疾病的发病率在全球范围内呈上升趋势。糖尿病就是其中之一，80%的糖尿病患者生活在发展中国家。在糖尿病患者中，使用补充和替代医学实践的趋势正在迅速增长。斯里兰卡是一个具有丰富阿育吠陀和本土医学文化的亚洲发展中国家。本研究的目的是在一个大型多民族糖尿病机构中，调查糖尿病患者使用补充和替代医学的流行情况，并评估补充和替代医学使用者低血糖事件的发生率是否增加。
2012 年 4 月至 8 月在佩拉德尼亚教学医院进行了横断面研究。通过口头同意，对 254 名 2 型成年糖尿病患者进行采访，询问他们在糖尿病诊所使用补充和替代医学以及低血糖的情况，使用访谈者管理的问卷。
在 252 份有效结果中，192 名患者（76%）承认使用了一种 CAM 来降低血糖。128 人使用苦瓜、山药和姜黄，113 人使用山药，92 人使用姜黄。虽然 19%的人使用单一药物，但 34%、21%和 2.4%的人使用 2 种、3 种或 3 种以上药物。CAM 用户的低血糖发生率为 21%，非使用者为 16.6%。差异无统计学意义（p=0.57）。食用姜黄（Crepe ginger）与低血糖发生率升高相关（P=0.01）。女性与 CAM 使用显著相关（p=0.01），而年龄、糖尿病病程、合并症和糖尿病并发症与 CAM 使用无关。
斯里兰卡 2 型糖尿病患者非常高的使用草药补充剂。尽管补充和替代医学使用者的总体低血糖发生率没有增加，但姜黄与显著低血糖有关，需要进一步研究。
