Abstract
Purpose :
Alternative and complementary medicine is the medicine that is used to substitute and/or complement the medical treatment. In this study we made a descriptive survey to investigate the frequency, pattern of use, the intention, the time and moment of use of the substances of alternative medicine for the treatment and control of symptoms related to conjunctivitis, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age related macular degeneration at the Hospital Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera en México.
Methods :
This is a prospective, transversal, observational and descriptive study: Survey
For our study we used a survey, I-CAM (International Questionnaire about Alternative and Complementary Medicines).
Our populations age ranged from 18 to 90.
Our subjetcs had one of the following diseases: Conjunctivitis, blepharitis, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema and age related macular degeneration.
All patients signed an informed consent.
We recorded a short medical history including age, date of birth, occupation, scholarship, comorbidities, current drugs taken and time since their ophthalmological diagnosis. Two questionaries were used to evaluate whether they used alternative or complementary medicine for any of their medical conditions, systemic or ophthalmological.
Results :
We recruited 304 patients, the average age was 64.1 years.
Most had a chronic course of their disease, > 6 weeks since their first symptoms, 82.6%.
The prevalence of the use of alternative or complementary medicine was 14.8% for all ophthalmologic diseases, 35% of them did it by their own initiative.
In the last 12 months 58.6% patients visited a medical doctor, 8.2% an homeopathic doctor, 7.6% an acupuncturist, 3.9% a herbalist, 1% a spiritual healer.
Alternative medicine distribution:
5.9% homeopathic, 5.3% acupuncture, herbs 22.4%, spiritual acts 1.2%, vitamins/minerals 54.6%, meditation 14.5%, yoga 4.6%, Qi Gong 1%, Tai ji Quan 1.6%, praying 81.8%, others 12.8%.
Conclusions :
The prevalence of alternative medicine was high for all medical conditions. This did not correlate with the prevalence for an ophthalmologic disease which was 14.8%.
The value of this study relies on highlighting to ophthalmologists the importance of an extensive anamnesis. It helps us acknowledge the alternatives that have been used to treat general medical and ophthalmologic diseases for a thorough understanding of our patients along their recovery.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.