Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Healthcare Services Management, Department of General Courses, School of Medicine, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2021 Apr 8;21(1):113. doi: 10.1186/s12906-021-03281-7.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) have recently become more popular and accepted worldwide. One principal step to identify the status and organize strategies of CAM is evaluating the manner and the prevalence of its usage among people. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CAM modalities usage by the people of Babol, a central city in the North of Iran, in 2018.
Using the original International CAM Questionnaire (I-CAM-Q), a questionnaire was redesigned in Persian (Farsi) with some changes such as adding special modalities in Iran and its validity and reliability were assessed. Six hundred households were evaluated using a cluster sampling method in 2018 spring by 12 trained interviewers.
Finally, 1770 questionnaires were correctly completed. A total of 110 participants (6.21% of the completed questionnaires) had visited CAM therapists in the last year, 109 persons (6.15%) had received prescriptions from physicians and paramedics to use CAM, and a total of 1032 people (58.30%) used herbs and herbal medicines in the last 12 months. Also, 1265 individuals (71.46%) had used CAM throughout their lives. The most popular methods were herbal medicine (65.76%), Persian Medicine (13.78%), water therapy (10.45%) and music therapy (8.36%). The use of CAM was more popular among women.
The general use of CAM in Babol was similar to other studies, but there were fewer visits by CAM therapists and less frequent adoption of common methods including homeopathy, acupuncture, and energy therapy. It was found that CAM was mostly used for non-serious diseases such as cold and transient gastrointestinal disorders, a pattern that is different from other studies in this field.
补充和替代医学（CAM）在最近变得越来越流行和被广泛接受。识别 CAM 的现状和制定其策略的主要步骤之一是评估其在人群中的使用方式和流行程度。本研究旨在调查 2018 年伊朗北部中心城市博尔巴赫尔的人们使用 CAM 方式的流行程度。
使用原始的国际 CAM 问卷（I-CAM-Q），我们用波斯语（法尔西语）重新设计了问卷，并进行了一些修改，例如增加了伊朗特有的模式，并评估了其有效性和可靠性。2018 年春季，通过 12 名经过培训的访谈员，采用整群抽样法对 600 户家庭进行了评估。
最终，有 1770 份问卷被正确填写。共有 110 名参与者（完成问卷的 6.21%）在过去一年中曾去过 CAM 治疗师处，109 名（6.15%）接受过医生和医务人员开具的 CAM 处方，共有 1032 人（58.30%）在过去 12 个月中使用过草药和草药。此外，1265 人（71.46%）一生中都曾使用过 CAM。最受欢迎的方法是草药（65.76%）、波斯医学（13.78%）、水疗（10.45%）和音乐疗法（8.36%）。CAM 的使用在女性中更为普遍。
博尔巴赫尔的一般 CAM 使用情况与其他研究相似，但 CAM 治疗师的就诊率较低，采用常见方法（包括顺势疗法、针灸和能量疗法）的频率也较低。研究发现，CAM 主要用于治疗感冒和短暂的胃肠道疾病等非严重疾病，这与该领域的其他研究模式不同。
