Use of alternative and complementary therapies by inflammatory bowel disease patients in an Italian tertiary referral centre

Probiotic and prebiotic use in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

“…Analogous to the findings in CAM surveys, 30,40,44 steroid use predicted probiotic use among IBD patients in this study. Patients requiring steroid therapy include those with more active disease, which may motivate them to supplement their conventional treatment.…”

“…A wide range of CAMs were inquired about; however, therapies recorded in previous studies that are not generally considered to be CAM (e.g., prayer, weight loss) 33,38,39,44,46 and therefore may inflate the prevalence of CAM use 61 were not included. Therefore, this finding appears to represent a genuinely high rate of CAM use in IBD patients and controls.…”

“…However, the patients in the current study spent less on probiotics than a recent estimate of general CAM expenditure by IBD patients. 44 However, comparisons of expenditure are limited by differing currencies, timeframes (e.g., costs per year 29,38,39 ), and variation in cost of CAMs in different countries. 47 Notwithstanding the costs, almost half of all probiotic users were unable to identify associated health benefits.…”

“…40 In Germany CAM is more incorporated into conventional medical systems 43 and consequently the rates of CAM and probiotic use 40,41,43 are frequently higher than other European countries. 5,32,35,44,45,47 This variation in CAM use between countries highlights the need for a control group drawn from the same population in order to detect IBD-specific CAM, probiotic, and prebiotic use. However, very few trials in IBD have used a control group against which to compare CAM use, and none have done so for probiotics or prebiotics.…”

“…5 In addition, previous studies have shown that 15%-55% of IBD CAM users do not discuss their use with mainstream health professionals involved with their care. 30,38,40,43,44 Consequently, if IBD patients use probiotics and prebiotics they may do so without the knowledge of their healthcare teams.…”