The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Quality of Life in Patients With Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis

This study was designed as a descriptive, consecutive survey of pre-arthroplasty patients due to hip and knee OA. Data were collected by the Personal Information Form, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Index, and EQ-5D-5L quality-of-life scale. Logistic regression was used to determine the risk factors of CAM usage; 74.4% of the patients used CAM methods. The most frequently used methods of CAM were biologically based herbal therapies. All patients indicated that they did not disclose CAM methods they used to their physicians. The median EQ-5D-5L index value of the patients was 0.08 and the median WOMAC score was 96.8. Furthermore, patients with right knee OA were found to have a higher risk of using CAM. This study demonstrated that communication between patients and health care professionals is generally poor, and there is an urgent need to develop patient education to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of using CAM.
Source: Holistic Nursing Practice - Category: Nursing Tags: FEATURES Source Type: research