ORIGINAL ARTICLE
One third of Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis use complementary and alternative medicine
Authors
Hiroshi Kajiyama1, Hideto Akama1, Hisashi Yamanaka1, Akira Shoji2, Yuko Matsuda1, Eiichi Tanaka1, Ayako Nakajima1, Chihiro Terai1, Masako Hara1, Taisuke Tomatsu1, Terunobu Saitoh1 and Naoyuki Kamatani1
| (1) |
First Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, South 1, West 16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8543, Japan |
| (2) |
Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan |
Received:
May 11, 2006
Accepted:
August 3, 2006
Full Text
> Click Here （member's only）
Abstract
We investigated the prevalence and predictors of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Japan. A crosssectional descriptive study was performed using the database from a large observational cohort of RA patients in the Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women's Medical University. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to reveal predictive factors for CAM use. Among 3815 RA patients, 1321 (34.6%; 174 males, 1147 females) used at least one type of CAM. Health foods, including dietary supplements, were the most commonly used. CAM was more frequently used by female patients (odds ratio: 0.578; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.451-0.740). A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that sex (odds ratio: 0.489; 95% CI = 0.333-0.718) and degree of satisfaction with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) (odds ratio: 0.899; 95% CI = 0.8520.948) were significant independent predictive factors for CAM use. The serum Creactive protein level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate showed no significant associations with CAM use. Approximately 35% of RA patients used CAM in Japan. Female patients and patients dissatisfied with DMARDs used CAM more frequently, regardless of their disease activity.
Key words
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), Female predominance, Japanese patient, Patient satisfaction, Rheumatoid arthritis
|
