Comparative morbidity profile of patients attending an Ayurveda clinic and a modern medicine clinic of a primary health center in rural Haryana, India

Abstract

Context:There is a paucity of data on the profile of patients accessing traditional systems of medicine. A comparison of profile of patients attending an Ayurveda clinic with that of modern medicine clinic will help in better understanding of utilization of services and preference for system of medicine by the patients seeking health care.Aim:The aim was to study the morbidity profile of patients who attended the Ayurveda clinic of a primary health center (PHC) in rural Haryana over 1 year and compared it with that of the modern medicine clinic attendees at the same facility.Materials and Methods:The study site was PHC, Dayalpur in block Ballabgarh, district Faridabad, Haryana, India. All new patients who attended the Ayurveda clinic of PHC Dayalpur in the year 2012 were included in the study. New attendees of modern medicine clinic of the same PHC in the year 2012 were used for comparison of profile of patients.Results:In year 2012, of the total new patients registered at PHC, 26% attended Ayurveda clinic. The male-to-female ratio (0.8:1) was similar in both clinics. The representation of children up to 5 years and elderly was significantly higher (12.0% vs. 6.7% and 19.5% vs. 11.0%) in modern medicine clinic as compared to Ayurveda clinic. The most common morbidities seen in Ayurveda clinic were twak vikar or skin disease (12.3%), sandhivata or osteoarthritis (10.3%), and kasa or cough (8.5%). Three most common morbidities in modern medicine clinic were acute respiratory infection (35.7%), hypertension (10.6%), and acute febrile illness (9.2%).Conclusions:The study provided evidence that Ayurveda was popular among rural population in North India. Therefore, the Government of India's initiative of setting up Ayurveda clinic in PHCs is well founded.

Prevalence and correlates of multimorbidity among patients attending AYUSH primary care settings in Delhi-National Capital Region, India

“…We observed that the prevalence of diabetes was highest, followed by hypertension and skin diseases, among the respondents attending AYUSH primary care settings, which is in contrast to the findings of a study conducted among patients attending an Ayurveda clinic in Haryana, India, which reported skin diseases and osteoarthritis to be the most common morbidities [ 25 ]. A probable reason for this could be that patients have a higher level of trust in the traditional system of medicine for the management of chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, as these require frequent visits to the physician, consistent investigations, and continued medications for longer durations, which leads to non-adherence.…”

Clinical metabolomics investigation of rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving ayurvedic whole system intervention

“…The present study used serum metabolite “formate” as an internal reference (with its concentration set at 0.03 mM) employing NMR suite of commercial software CHENOMX. The approach is similar to that followed for urinary metabolic profiling considering creatinine as an internal reference standard [ 1 , 2 ]. Therefore, the quantitative levels of other metabolites represent metabolite-to-formate ratio which may be influenced by formate concentration varying sample to sample.…”

“…Arthritis is a highly prevalent clinical condition in Ayurveda clinics across the country [ 1 ]. Over 80% of all suffering with musculoskeletal disorders in India have reported to use some form of complementary or alternative medicine at some point of time of their illness [ 2 ].…”