Volume 28, Issue 145, March 2024

Investigating the influence of patient demographics on the utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medications (CAM) for treating various lifestyle diseases in community and hospital pharmacies: A comprehensive literature review

Muhammad Zahid Iqbal^1♦, Neha Fatima², Sadia Ahmad², Tooba Farooq², Muntaha Gull Shahid², Rabia Zaka², Nisha Noor², Rameen Asif², Rabia Saleem², Nageen Ramzan², Ayesha Zulfiqar²

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
²Research Student, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Background: Alternative and complementary medicine (CAM) is extensively utilized worldwide due to its potential in relieving both psychological and physical conditions. As the prevalence of lifestyle diseases has been increasing with each passing day, CAM plays a vital role around the globe. Objective: The current review was designed to analyze the effect of CAM usage on patients having lifestyle management diseases in various hospitals and community pharmacies. Methods: The researchers performed a systematic examination utilizing diverse search engines to locate cross-sectional studies. A manual exploration was carried out using the following electronic databases: Web of Science, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Pro Quest, Pub Med, ResearchGate and Scopus. This systematic review was according to the standards of “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews” (PRISMA) and Meta-analysis. Results: This review included the updated studies taken from 2002 to 2023. The higher trend of CAM usage was from Western Asia. However, it covered other continents as well. Out of 26,000 patients, 18,000 were observed to be using alternative and complementary medicines. The AXIS tool served an essential function in cross-sectional studies by rigorously assessing the study's quality. It offers a systematic method to gauge the quality, pertinence, and reliability of clinical research within cross-sectional studies. Conclusion: The cross-sectional analysis comprised 31 research articles published from 2002 to 2023. These studies were conducted across multiple nations by researchers. CAM usage is higher in chronic diseases like Hypertension, Arthritis, Diabetes, and Asthma. The trend of CAM usage was high in West Asia.

Keywords: Demographic factors, Hypertension, Confounders, PRISMA, Hypertensive Patients, Control of Hypertension, Complementary and Alternative Medications (CAM)

Medical Science, 2024, 28, e12ms3298

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v28i145.e12ms3298

Published: 04 March 2024