Alnahdi Muhannad A, Alsulayhim Abdullah K, Bin Salem Ahmed H, Masuadi Emad, Al Malik Yaser
Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, SAU.
Medicine, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, SAU.
Cureus. 2020 Oct 6;12(10):e10825. doi: 10.7759/cureus.10825.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes demyelination of the central nervous system. No treatment has been shown to be curative; thus, we assume that the tendency for patients with MS to use unconventional therapies, such as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), might increase. The aim of this study was to explore the pattern of CAM use among patients with MS at a tertiary health care center in Saudi Arabia (SA). This was a questionnaire-based observational cross-sectional study that targeted adult patients diagnosed with MS at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, SA, from 2018 to 2019. The sample size included 176 patients, and a consecutive non-probability sampling technique was used to engage them during their appointments. An Arabic questionnaire was used to evaluate patients' use of CAM. The mean age of participants was 34.6 ± 10.9 years, females represented the majority 125 (71%) of participants, and 89% of the participants reported using CAM at least once, with one or more modalities being used. Prayer, Salat, was the most frequent modality (60%) followed by supplication, Dua'a (59%), Ruqia, reciting Holy Quran (52%), and vitamins (44%). Symptomatic improvement was reported by 49 (27.8%) of dietary supplement users and 81 (46%) of non-dietary supplement medicine users. The study found a high prevalence of CAM utilization among Saudi adult patients with MS, which exceeded internationally reported rates. Although some patients described some improvement in their symptoms, further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of CAM.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种慢性自身免疫性疾病，会导致中枢神经系统脱髓鞘。尚无治疗方法被证明具有治愈性；因此，我们认为MS患者使用非传统疗法（如补充和替代医学（CAM））的倾向可能会增加。本研究的目的是探索沙特阿拉伯（SA）一家三级医疗保健中心的MS患者使用CAM的模式。这是一项基于问卷的观察性横断面研究，目标是2018年至2019年在沙特阿拉伯利雅得阿卜杜勒阿齐兹国王医疗城被诊断患有MS的成年患者。样本量包括176名患者，采用连续非概率抽样技术在他们预约时让他们参与。使用一份阿拉伯语问卷来评估患者对CAM的使用情况。参与者的平均年龄为34.6±10.9岁，女性占大多数，为125名（71%）参与者，89%的参与者报告至少使用过一次CAM，且使用了一种或多种方式。祈祷（Salat）是最常使用的方式（60%），其次是祈求（Dua'a，59%）、诵读《古兰经》治病（Ruqia，52%）和维生素（44%）。49名（27.8%）膳食补充剂使用者和81名（46%）非膳食补充剂药物使用者报告症状有所改善。该研究发现沙特成年MS患者中CAM的使用率很高，超过了国际报道的比率。尽管一些患者描述他们的症状有所改善，但仍需要进一步研究来评估CAM的有效性。
