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Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders

BACKGROUND: Traditional medicine (TM) has been established as a two-edged sword. On one edge numerous forms of TM have been proven safe and effective, while on the other edge various modes of TM have been shown to be futile and potentially dangerous. Resorting to TM, especially for chronic diseases,...

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Autores principales: Mohammad, Yousef, Al-Ahmari, Ahmed, Al-Dashash, Fahad, Al-Hussain, Fawaz, Al-Masnour, Firas, Masoud, Abdullah, Jradi, Hoda
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387768/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25887047
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12906-015-0623-6
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author Mohammad, Yousef
Al-Ahmari, Ahmed
Al-Dashash, Fahad
Al-Hussain, Fawaz
Al-Masnour, Firas
Masoud, Abdullah
Jradi, Hoda
author_facet Mohammad, Yousef
Al-Ahmari, Ahmed
Al-Dashash, Fahad
Al-Hussain, Fawaz
Al-Masnour, Firas
Masoud, Abdullah
Jradi, Hoda
author_sort Mohammad, Yousef
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Traditional medicine (TM) has been established as a two-edged sword. On one edge numerous forms of TM have been proven safe and effective, while on the other edge various modes of TM have been shown to be futile and potentially dangerous. Resorting to TM, especially for chronic diseases, is common world-wide and includes Saudi Arabia. Most neurological diseases are chronic. No data is available on the utilization of TM among patients with neurological disorders. We conducted this study to assess for the prevalence, pattern, perception and triggers for TM use by the adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders. METHODS: A survey written in Arabic and comprised of 15 questions was used to collect data on the practice of TM among the neurology patients of King Saud University Ambulatory Clinic. The questions in the survey pertain mainly to the frequency of TM practice, its form and the patient’s opinion of this practice. The data was collected through a face to face interview by three medical students who were instructed on the survey questions prior to the launch of the study. RESULTS: 292 patients completed the survey (35.9% males and 64.0% females). 67% (n = 196) of the sample used TM. Cupping or what is commonly known as “hojamah” was the most prevalent method (45.4%) followed by herbs, skin cauterization and the Reciting of the Holy Quran (42.3%, 33.7% and 20.4% respectively). The prevalence of TM use did not differ across gender (chi-sq = 2.02; p-value = 0.15), level of education (chi-sq = 4.02; p-value = 0.40), health status (chi-sq = 2.29; p-value = 0.68), age groups (chi-sq = 5.12; p-value = 0.16), or perception toward TM (chi-sq = 2.67; p-value = 0.26) in this population. CONCLUSION: The practice of TM is common among the neurology patients of Saudi Arabia. Cupping, herbs, and skin cauterization, which can be harmful when wrongly employed, are frequently utilized in this patient population. Measures and policies to endorse the appropriate use of TM by Saudi society must be implemented promptly. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-015-0623-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-43877682015-04-08 Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders Mohammad, Yousef Al-Ahmari, Ahmed Al-Dashash, Fahad Al-Hussain, Fawaz Al-Masnour, Firas Masoud, Abdullah Jradi, Hoda BMC Complement Altern Med Research Article BACKGROUND: Traditional medicine (TM) has been established as a two-edged sword. On one edge numerous forms of TM have been proven safe and effective, while on the other edge various modes of TM have been shown to be futile and potentially dangerous. Resorting to TM, especially for chronic diseases, is common world-wide and includes Saudi Arabia. Most neurological diseases are chronic. No data is available on the utilization of TM among patients with neurological disorders. We conducted this study to assess for the prevalence, pattern, perception and triggers for TM use by the adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders. METHODS: A survey written in Arabic and comprised of 15 questions was used to collect data on the practice of TM among the neurology patients of King Saud University Ambulatory Clinic. The questions in the survey pertain mainly to the frequency of TM practice, its form and the patient’s opinion of this practice. The data was collected through a face to face interview by three medical students who were instructed on the survey questions prior to the launch of the study. RESULTS: 292 patients completed the survey (35.9% males and 64.0% females). 67% (n = 196) of the sample used TM. Cupping or what is commonly known as “hojamah” was the most prevalent method (45.4%) followed by herbs, skin cauterization and the Reciting of the Holy Quran (42.3%, 33.7% and 20.4% respectively). The prevalence of TM use did not differ across gender (chi-sq = 2.02; p-value = 0.15), level of education (chi-sq = 4.02; p-value = 0.40), health status (chi-sq = 2.29; p-value = 0.68), age groups (chi-sq = 5.12; p-value = 0.16), or perception toward TM (chi-sq = 2.67; p-value = 0.26) in this population. CONCLUSION: The practice of TM is common among the neurology patients of Saudi Arabia. Cupping, herbs, and skin cauterization, which can be harmful when wrongly employed, are frequently utilized in this patient population. Measures and policies to endorse the appropriate use of TM by Saudi society must be implemented promptly. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-015-0623-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2015-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4387768/ /pubmed/25887047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12906-015-0623-6 Text en © Mohammad et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mohammad, Yousef
Al-Ahmari, Ahmed
Al-Dashash, Fahad
Al-Hussain, Fawaz
Al-Masnour, Firas
Masoud, Abdullah
Jradi, Hoda
Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title_full Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title_fullStr Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title_full_unstemmed Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title_short Pattern of traditional medicine use by adult Saudi patients with neurological disorders
title_sort pattern of traditional medicine use by adult saudi patients with neurological disorders
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387768/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25887047
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12906-015-0623-6
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