Complementary and Alternative Medicine Usage and Its Determinant Factors Among Diabetic Patients: An Iranian Case

Abstract

Although modern treatments have achieved much progress in blood sugar control in recent decades, evidences indicate that complementary and alternative treatments are very common in diabetic patients. The present study aims to investigate application of complementary and traditional medicines among diabetic patients in Iran in 2016. This was a cross-sectional study done on 294 diabetic patients who were referred to the diabetes clinic and were chosen using convenient sampling. Data were gathered using a demographic characteristics form and a researcher-made questionnaire (for studying application and satisfaction of using some of the complementary and alternative medicines). A total of 88.4% of diabetic patients have used at least one complementary and alternative treatment in the past year. The most common treatment was medicinal plants, which were used by 84.9% of the participants. Sixty-nine percent of the patients were satisfied with using complementary and traditional treatments. This study showed that diabetic patients are very interested in using complementary and alternative medicine.