Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Newly Developing Country: a Cross- Sectional Study in Qatar

Abstract

Background: Scarce data exists on the utilization of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in Qatar. Primary care clinics offer an ideal opportunity to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practice of CAM among patients with type II diabetes. Methods: A total of 226 subjects with type II diabetes were examined in this cross-sectional descriptive study. SPSS v. 19 was used to analyze the data and predictors of CAM use were identified through the utilization of multiple logistic regressions. Results: 53 % of respondents reported utilizing CAM. Females were 1.2 times more likely to use CAM than males. South East Asians (47.7%) were the most frequent users, followed by Iranians (37.6%) and Arabs (14.6%). Herbal powder (54.4%) was the most widely used, followed by bitter gourd (44%) and fenugreek (40%). Being South East Asian (odds ratio [OR] 5.297, 95 %, CI 2.892-9.377), Muslim (OR 5.259, 95%, CI 2.995-9.198) and attaining a secondary and higher education (OR 5.239, 95%, CI 2.898- 9.595) were the only predictors for CAM use after adjustments for gender, ethnicity, religion, occupation, family household income and hypertension. Conclusions: This study showed a high prevalence of CAM usage among patients with type II diabetes living in Doha, Qatar. This use is associated with patients’ family educational level, source of information, previous experience and their view about concomitant use of CAM and conventional medicine. The most-common complementary alternative medicinal products used were herbal powder, bitter gourd and fenugreek. Due to the high prevalence of usage of CAM future studies on the anti-glycemic properties of the utilized herbs should be carried out.