Shariff Erum M, Al-Shammrani Foziah J, Nazish Saima, Zafar Azra S, Shahid Rizwana M, Khuda Inam E, Zeeshan Mohammad A, Alabdali Majed A, Al-Bakr Aishah I, Aljaafari Danah T, Balharith Ibtesam O, Alahmed Ali A, Alsalman Sadiq A, Almajed Alaa M, Alkhamis Fahd A
Department of Neurology, King Fahd Hospital, Imam AbdulRahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E-mail:
Neurosciences (Riyadh). 2019 Jul;24(3):192-198. doi: 10.17712/nsj.2019.3.20180010.
To describe the prevalence, knowledge and attitudes about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and the proportion that seek advice from their physician about CAM use.
This cross-sectional observational study was performed in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic of King Fahd Hospital of Universityin Alkhobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January-June 2017. A total of 133 patients have completed the survey.
The mean age of patients was 32.3+/-7.6 years and 84 (63.2%) were female. Approximately 83.5% of the patients reported the use of CAM. Among all the reported forms of CAM, vitamins were the most prevalent form, followed by cupping, special prayers and meditation. The majority of patients (62%) obtained knowledge of CAM through social media. A significant number of patients (75.6%) did not disclose the use of CAM to their physician. There was a trend for using CAM more in highly educated, older age, and female patients. The most commonly reported rationale to use CAM was overall improvement in health status.
The use of CAM among Saudi patients with MS is highly prevalent, without disclosure of its use to physicians. These factors should be taken into account in the doctor-patient consultation to avoid adverse events.
描述补充和替代医学（CAM）使用的患病率、知识和态度，以及就CAM使用向医生寻求建议的比例。
这项横断面观察性研究于2017年1月至6月在沙特阿拉伯王国胡拜尔法赫德国王大学医院的多发性硬化症（MS）诊所进行。共有133名患者完成了调查。
患者的平均年龄为32.3±7.6岁，84名（63.2%）为女性。约83.5%的患者报告使用过CAM。在所有报告的CAM形式中，维生素是最常见的形式，其次是拔罐、特殊祈祷和冥想。大多数患者（62%）通过社交媒体获得CAM知识。相当数量的患者（75.6%）未向医生透露使用过CAM。在受过高等教育、年龄较大的女性患者中，使用CAM的趋势更为明显。使用CAM最常报告的理由是健康状况总体改善。
沙特MS患者中CAM的使用非常普遍，且未向医生透露其使用情况。在医患咨询中应考虑这些因素，以避免不良事件。
