Department of Public Health, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Alicante, Spain.
CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2024 Oct 7;24(1):363. doi: 10.1186/s12906-024-04666-0.
While traditional medicine (TM) is employed by a significant portion of the global population for managing health issues, clinical guidelines and state recommendations often overlook this practice. The aim of this study was to describe the frequency of use of TM to control 3 metabolic risk factors (MRF): hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and hyperglycaemia; and the sociodemographic, economic, and clinical characteristics associated with the use of TM.
Cross-sectional descriptive study that analyses data obtained from a representative population survey in 2 health districts, one urban in the south of Quito and another in a forested rural area with diverse ethnic groups in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. We include 602 individuals with at least one MRF. We calculated the proportion of people reporting the regular use of TM (herbal or traditional remedy) to control their MRF and we assessed potential associations with sociodemographic, economic, and clinical characteristics with a multivariable logistic regression model.
In two very different sociocultural contexts in Ecuador we found that use of TM to control MRF was frequent (39.4% in Esmeraldas, 31.1% in Quito), frequently in combination with CM. There is a notable percentage of people, 33.9% in Esmeraldas and 39.0% in Quito, who did not take any treatment for their MRF, and the remainder used CM alone. In both settings, an individual's education lever was significantly associated with TM use. Whereas in Quito individuals with higher education more frequently treated their MRF with TM (aOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.03-3.90), in the rural, hard-to-reach context of Esmeraldas, it was more frequent among people with no formal schooling (aOR: 3.76; 95%CI 1.59-8.88), as well as those of younger age (aOR by year: 0.97; 95% CI 0.95-0.99) and afro ethnicity (aOR: 2.13; 95%CI 1.02-4.45).
Traditional medicine is used by a significant proportion of the population in Ecuador, highlighting the need for a more accessible and intercultural healthcare approach. The health system should ensure access to the necessary information and resources for the management of their metabolic risk factors.
尽管传统医学（TM）被全球很大一部分人口用于管理健康问题，但临床指南和国家建议往往忽略了这种做法。本研究旨在描述 TM 控制 3 种代谢风险因素（MRF）的使用频率：高血压、高胆固醇血症和高血糖症；以及与 TM 使用相关的社会人口学、经济和临床特征。
这是一项横断面描述性研究，分析了来自厄瓜多尔南部一个城市和埃斯梅拉达斯一个森林地区的两个卫生区的代表性人群调查数据，该地区有不同的种族群体。我们纳入了 602 名至少有一种 MRF 的个体。我们计算了报告常规使用 TM（草药或传统疗法）来控制 MRF 的人数比例，并使用多变量逻辑回归模型评估了与社会人口学、经济和临床特征的潜在关联。
在厄瓜多尔两个非常不同的社会文化背景下，我们发现控制 MRF 的 TM 使用非常普遍（埃斯梅拉达斯 39.4%，基多 31.1%），通常与 CM 联合使用。有相当比例的人（埃斯梅拉达斯 33.9%，基多 39.0%）没有服用任何药物来治疗 MRF，其余人单独使用 CM。在这两种情况下，个体的教育水平与 TM 使用显著相关。在基多，接受过高等教育的人更频繁地使用 TM 治疗 MRF（OR 2.04，95%CI 1.03-3.90），而在偏远的、难以到达的埃斯梅拉达斯农村地区，这种情况更常见于没有接受过正规教育的人（OR：3.76；95%CI 1.59-8.88），以及年龄较小的人（OR 每年：0.97；95%CI 0.95-0.99）和非裔人（OR：2.13；95%CI 1.02-4.45）。
传统医学在厄瓜多尔被很大一部分人口使用，这凸显了需要更易获得和跨文化的医疗保健方法。卫生系统应确保获得管理代谢风险因素所需的必要信息和资源。
