Factors influencing the use of complementary and alternative medicine for musculoskeletal disorders in the United Arab Emirates

Ahmed, Shakil; Shaikh, Faryal; Lawal, Salihu M; Ogugua, Fredrick; Al-Hafeiti, Khaleifah; Al-Hafri, Saif Saeed; Shaikh, Rizwana B

doi:10.7707/hmj.371

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The use of alternative remedies like DDS for the management of diseases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as in the Middle East is a widespread practice that has historical, traditional, and religious roots ( Ahmed et al, 2015 ; al Marshedi et al, 2017; AlBraik et al, 2008 , Dha, 2011 , Ibrahim et al, 2019 , Muttappallymyalil et al, 2013 , Sridhar et al, 2017 ). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have estimated the prevalence of DDS use to be between 35% and 39% in the UAE ( Abdulla et al, 2019b , Alhomoud et al, 2016 , Radwan et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diets and dietary supplements used during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates: A cross-sectional survey

Radwan

Hasan

Jaafar

et al. 2022

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal

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Introduction Since the beginning of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been a marked increase in the use of diets and dietary supplements (DDS) for the prevention and treatment of this emerging disease. While DDS are generally regarded as harmless, little evidence exists on the safety and efficacy of their use for COVID-19. Objectives To investigate the pattern and determinants of DDS use among the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Design: Cross-sectional web-based survey. Setting: Adults residing in the UAE. Participants: Participants (n= 2,060) residing in the UAE were recruited from databases of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs - Sharjah networks in the various Emirates. Primary and Secondary Outcomes: Prevalence and determinants for the use of different DDS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the UAE, and sources of information for DDS use. Results The majority of participants reported using a form of the DDS understudy, with special foods being the most common (95.5%), followed by intake of citrus fruits (62.1%), supplements use (56.6%), increased water intake (50%), and herbal teas (38.4%). Only 20% of participants reported the main source of information on DDS to be health care practitioners, with the majority relying on either social media (40.4%) or family and friends (28.7%). After adjustment, female gender, older age (>40 years), and Asian ethnicities were characteristics associated with higher odds of using most of the DDS modalities and were also correlates of reporting health care practitioners as the main source of information for their DDS use. Conclusions The findings showed widespread use of DDS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The use of DDS in this study was mainly guided by social media with a marginal role of health care practitioners. These findings call for a more integrative approach towards DDS to ensure its proper and safe use.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diets and dietary supplements used during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates: A cross-sectional survey

Radwan

Hasan

Jaafar

et al. 2022

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal

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“…The use of herbs have been associated with common experience, perceptions that herbal medicines were effective, delayed medical care and sufficient knowledge of herbs [ 14 , 17 , 18 ]. Factors such as better efficacy, safe usage, easy access and affordability are also associated with the practice and utilization of herbal medicines over conventional medicines [ 5 , 7 , 14 , 19 , 20 ]. Other studies have revealed that the use of herbal medicines is independently associated with socio-demographic characteristics such as age, education level, and marital status [ 17 , 18 , 21 , 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating herbal medicine into mainstream healthcare in Ghana: clients’ acceptability, perceptions and disclosure of use

Agyei‐Baffour

Kudolo

Quansah

et al. 2017

BMC Complement Altern Med

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BackgroundAlthough there are current efforts to integrate herbal medicine (HM) into mainstream healthcare in Ghana, there is paucity of empirical evidence on the acceptability and concurrent use of HM, in the formal health facilities in Ghana. This study sought to determine client perception, disclosure and acceptability of integrating herbal medicine in mainstream healthcare in Kumasi, Ghana.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August, 2015. Five hundred patients presenting at the outpatient departments of Kumasi South, Suntreso and Tafo Government Hospitals in Kumasi were randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with the use of structured questionnaires. A logistic regression analysis, using backward selection, was conducted to determine the influence of socio-demographic and facility related factors on the odds of using HM at the facility. All statistical tests were two-sided and considered significant at a p-value of <0.05.ResultsMajority of the study respondents were females (64.8%) and the median age was 36 years. Less than half, 42.2%, of the respondents utilized HM services when they visited the health facility. Reasons for using HM at the facility level included ‘being effective’ (24.4%), ‘easy to access’ (25.3%) and ‘being comparatively cheaper’ (16%). About 86% never disclosed previous use of HM to their health care providers. Socio-economic status and perception of service provision influenced use of herbal medicines. Respondents who rated themselves wealthy had increased odds of using herbal medicines at the health facility as compared to those who rated themselves poor (OR = 4.9; 95%CI = 1.6–15.3).ConclusionThis study shows that integration of herbal medicine is feasible and herbal medicines may be generally accepted as a formal source of healthcare in Ghana. The results of this study might serve as a basis for improvement and upscale of the herbal medicine integration programme in Ghana.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-017-2025-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Some of the underlying contributors to the emergence of integrative care are the use of complementary and alternative medicine (the United States, 38.3%; Australia, 68.9%; Japan, 76%; Malaysia, 55.6%; and Singapore, 44.6%),[2] inefficiency of allopathic medicine,[3] and fewer complications found in complementary medicine than in allopathic medicine. [4]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies and laws related to the integration of traditional and complementary medicine into the Iranian health system based on the WHO definition: A document analysis

Negahban

Maleki

Abbassian

2019

J Edu Health Promot

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Factors influencing the use of complementary and alternative medicine for musculoskeletal disorders in the United Arab Emirates

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Diets and dietary supplements used during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates: A cross-sectional survey

Diets and dietary supplements used during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates: A cross-sectional survey

Integrating herbal medicine into mainstream healthcare in Ghana: clients’ acceptability, perceptions and disclosure of use

Policies and laws related to the integration of traditional and complementary medicine into the Iranian health system based on the WHO definition: A document analysis

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