Akhtar Khursheda, Akhtar Khodeza, Rahman M Mizanur
Department of Community Medicine, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Chittagong Medical College, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Eur J Breast Health. 2018 Jul 1;14(3):166-172. doi: 10.5152/ejbh.2018.3929. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Various treatment options including alternative medicine is available in underdeveloped countries which attracts easily the community with low profile. This study aimed to find perception of the use and mode use of alternative medicine (AM) by Bangladeshi Breast cancer patients which may influence timely treatment seeking.
A cross sectional study was performed to determine the spectrum in use of alternative medicine and compare the use of alternative medicine with their delay in presentation. Patients were selected randomly from July 2015-June 2016 in a specialized public cancer hospital of Dhaka city. Face to face interview was taken from diagnosed breast cancer patients, collected in pre-structured data sheet, SPSS was used for statical tests.
Out of 200 respondents, about half of the respondents 46.5% (93) first sought help to alternative medicine. Most of them 86.02 %(80) preferred to use homeopathy. The mean duration of use alternative medicine was 2.9±4.7 months, mean patient delay was 4 months. Use of alternative medicine was found significantly (p<0.05) associated with patient delay (p=0.019), provider delay (p<0.0001), total delay (p<0.0001), use of homeopathy (p<0.0001) and residence (p=0.014). Logistic regression analysis showed that alternative medicine was 4 times more likely to cause delay help seeking (OR=4.353; 95% CI 2.2.7-8.587) p<0.0001. The co-efficient r was 0.488, p<0.0001 and there was a positive correlation among delay and duration of use of alternative medicine.
Seeking medical help other than orthodox available treatment leads to delayed presentation by the breast cancer patients.
在欠发达国家有包括替代医学在内的各种治疗选择，这些很容易吸引低调的群体。本研究旨在了解孟加拉国乳腺癌患者对替代医学的使用认知和使用方式，这可能会影响及时寻求治疗。
进行了一项横断面研究，以确定替代医学的使用范围，并比较替代医学的使用与患者就诊延迟情况。2015年7月至2016年6月期间，在达卡市一家专门的公立癌症医院随机选取患者。对确诊的乳腺癌患者进行面对面访谈，收集到预先构建的数据表中，使用SPSS进行统计检验。
在200名受访者中，约一半的受访者（46.5%，93人）首先寻求替代医学的帮助。其中大多数人（86.02%，80人）更喜欢使用顺势疗法。使用替代医学的平均时长为2.9±4.7个月，患者平均延迟就诊时间为4个月。发现使用替代医学与患者延迟（p = 0.019）、医疗服务提供者延迟（p < 0.0001）、总延迟（p < 0.0001）、使用顺势疗法（p < 0.0001）和居住地（p = 0.014）显著相关（p < 0.05）。逻辑回归分析表明，替代医学导致延迟寻求帮助的可能性高出4倍（OR = 4.353；95% CI 2.27 - 8.587），p < 0.0001。相关系数r为0.488，p < 0.0001，替代医学使用延迟与时长之间存在正相关。
寻求正统可用治疗之外的医疗帮助会导致乳腺癌患者延迟就诊。
