Prevalence and Determinants of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use among Diabetes Patients in Southwestern Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: The epidemic of diabetes mellitus (DM) in African countries demands a critical assessment and review of patients' management protocols and their self-care habits. The objective of this research was to evaluate the pattern of usage of CAM, its role in the management of diabetes and possible determinants of its use in patients with diabetes. METHODS: Subjects were recruited from six selected hospitals from four of the six States in South western, Nigeria. Participants were consecutively recruited from the diabetes clinics of the selected hospitals. Participants completed a multicomponent questionnaire which comprised three sections. RESULTS: The majority of the subjects were females (57.7%) and of Yoruba extraction (89.7%). Their mean age was 62.58±11.80 years and their mean duration of diabetes was 7.95±6.41 years (range 1-36 years). Two hundred and forty one (62.1%) of the subjects reported the use of at least one type of CAM of which 213(88.4%) indicated using CAM as complementary to regular conventional anti-diabetic medications, while in the remaining 28 (11.6%) CAM users, it served as alternative medicine. The predictors of CAM use included male gender, and patients with at least secondary level education . CONCLUSION: The prevalence of the use of CAM therapies is high in this study among people living with diabetes in Southwest, Nigeria. CAM is used mainly as complementary rather than as an alternative therapy. The most commonly used CAM therapy was biological therapy-Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf), garlic and Moringa oleifera. Orientation about CAM should be included in diabetes education at diagnosis and regularly re-enforced at subsequent clinic visits.