Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Global Health and Development, Graduate School, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020 May 13;20(1):147. doi: 10.1186/s12906-020-02945-0.
The 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea was the largest event outside of the Middle East. Under such circumstances, individuals tend to resort to non-conventional solutions such as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to manage health. Thus, this study aims to examine characteristics of CAM use among outpatients in a community hospital setting during the 2015 MERS outbreak and to assess potential predictors of CAM use during the epidemic.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 331 patients (response rate: 82.75%) at a community hospital located in Seoul, South Korea. The survey instrument included 36 questions on the use of CAM, demographic characteristics, health status, and respondents' perceptions and concerns about MERS infection. Chi-square test and logistic regression were conducted for data analysis using SPSS ver. 21.0., and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all analyses.
76.1% of respondents used one or more types of CAM modalities during the MERS outbreak. Consumption of easily accessible modalities such as multivitamin (51.2%) and food products (32.1%) was most popular, and the majority of CAM users relied on mass media (52.4%) and the internet (27.4%) to obtain information on CAM. The use of CAM was associated with age between 40 and 49, age over 50, prior CAM use, and dissatisfaction with the government response to the MERS outbreak.
CAM was commonly used by outpatients during the 2015 MERS outbreak in Korea, and mass media was the main source of information. Establishing a media platform is of paramount importance to provide reliable information and ensure the safety of its use.
2015 年韩国中东呼吸综合征（MERS）疫情是该疾病除中东地区以外最大规模的一次爆发。在这种情况下，人们往往倾向于寻求非常规的解决方案，例如补充替代医学（CAM）来管理健康。因此，本研究旨在考察在 2015 年 MERS 疫情期间社区医院门诊患者使用 CAM 的特点，并评估疫情期间使用 CAM 的潜在预测因素。
在韩国首尔的一家社区医院进行了一项横断面研究，共调查了 331 名患者（应答率：82.75%）。调查工具包括 36 个关于 CAM 使用、人口统计学特征、健康状况以及受访者对 MERS 感染的看法和担忧的问题。使用 SPSS 21.0 进行数据分析，采用卡方检验和逻辑回归，所有分析均以 p 值<0.05 为具有统计学意义。
76.1%的受访者在 MERS 疫情期间使用了一种或多种类型的 CAM 模式。最受欢迎的是易获取的模式，如多种维生素（51.2%）和食品（32.1%），大多数 CAM 用户依赖大众媒体（52.4%）和互联网（27.4%）获取 CAM 信息。CAM 的使用与 40-49 岁、50 岁以上、既往 CAM 使用以及对政府应对 MERS 疫情的不满有关。
CAM 在韩国 2015 年 MERS 疫情期间被门诊患者广泛使用，大众媒体是信息的主要来源。建立一个媒体平台对于提供可靠的信息和确保其使用的安全性至关重要。
