AWARENESS AND USE OF COMPLEMENTARY ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA

Objective: To compare awareness and usage of various complementary alternative medicine (CAM) modalities in patients with asthma. Methodology: An observational cross sectional study conducted at Pulmonology clinics on 452 male and female patients. Their age ranged from 10 till 50 years. An interview based questionnaire tested knowledge and use of CAM by intake of; tea, coffee, soups, joshanda, misri and honey, involvement by; yoga, swimming and breathing exercises along with application of CAM modalities like Vicks and steam inhalation. Results: It was found that males had greater awareness and used modalities of CAM more than females. The age stratum reflecting maximum awareness was shown by the age group of 31-40 years with the females significantly having more knowledge(p= 0.01). The knowledge was significant in patients who had family predisposition of seasonal allergies and had frequently been using inhalers. Application of CAM was seen with modalities of homeopathic and herbal medicines, coffee intake, steam inhalation, breathing exercises and use of multivitamins (p value 0.05). The knowledge of use of swimming was found in 56% of asthmatics. A high ratio of respondents had knowledge of role of honey, soups, yoga exercises and application of Vicks vaporub but practices of these modalities were not found to be significant. Practice of swimming, intake of tea, soup/broth, honey; and application of Vicks was not found to be popular among patients with asthma. Conclusion: Patients with asthma were acquainted and used some adjuvants together with prescribed medicines as component of CAM; however its awareness was greater as compared to its usage.