Pattern of medical pluralism in patients under treatment for lifestyle diseases in a tertiary level hospital in Uttarakhand
Journal Title: Journal of the Indian Medical Association - Year 2018, Vol 116, Issue 8
Abstract
Medical pluralism (MP) can be defined as the employment of more than one medical system or the use of both conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for health and illness. A study about the pattern of medical pluralism in patients under treatment for lifestyle diseases would help in understanding the various aspects of use of CAM in such patients for achieving best outcomes. The present study was a cross sectional study which was conducted among the patients under treatment for lifestyle diseases in a tertiary level hospital in Uttarakhand. A total of 125 patients were interviewed for the present study. Most of the participants had Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (47%), and about one fourth had both diabetes and hypertension. About 43% had used CAM at some time since diagnosis. About 40% of the ever users of CAM were using it currently also. Most common modality used was ayurveda, followed by herbal medicines, naturopathy and yoga. A bivariate analysis of sociodemographic characteristics and CAM use showed that no other factor except for the absence of health insurance had a statistical association with the use of CAM. The use and acceptability of CAM by people under treatment for lifestyle diseases is quite high and most of these were self prescribed or taken on the advice of friends and neighbors' etc. The need of the hour is to generate scientific evidence regarding these modalities of treatment so that they can be incorporated scientifically in the treatment regime of patients for maximizing the benefits.
Authors and Affiliations
Ranjeeta Kumari, Priyansh Gupta, Bhola Nath
Keywords
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