Half of Patients With Diabetes Use Alternative Medicine

Takeaway

• Among people with diabetes, the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is 51%.

• Of those using CAM, two-thirds do not discuss it with their doctors, according to this meta-analysis.

Why this matters

• CAM can affect diabetes management via direct supplement-drug interaction or indirectly by affecting medication adherence.

• Authors: clinicians should ask about CAM use to check on interactions and ensure treatment optimization and medication adherence. 

Study design

• Systematic review and meta-analysis including 38 articles published from 2009 to 2019 of CAM use in adults with diabetes.

• Funding: University of Birmingham, UK.

Key results

• The most common CAM types mentioned were acupuncture (6 studies), mind-body therapies (6), religious/spiritual healing (5), and homeopathy (4).

• Pooled prevalence of CAM use was 51% (95% CI, 43%-59%). 

• By region, use prevalence was 76% in Europe, 55% in Africa, and 45% in North America.

• Pooled prevalence ratios (95% CI):

  • Males vs females: 0.86 (0.81-0.91).

  • Type 2 vs type 1 diabetes: 1.00 (0.83-1.20).

• Prevalence (95% CIs) of CAM use as:

  • Additional treatment to prescribed medicine: 78% (56%-94%).

  • Alternative to prescribed medicine: 21% (12%-31%).

• Among those using CAM, 67% (95% CI, 58%-76%) did not disclose it to health care professionals.

Limitations

• Data collection methods, nature of settings varied among studies.

• Only English-language publications were included.

This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.

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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.

Cite this: Miriam Tucker. Half of Patients With Diabetes Use Alternative Medicine - Medscape - Mar 18, 2021.