Introduction:

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) use is increasingly popular globally and poses potential interactions with conventional treatments. Our study aims to identify the current prevalence of CAM use within Tasmania and potential predictive patient demographic factors.

Methods:

100 patients were recruited from oncology clinics and the chemotherapy unit of Royal Hobart Hospital. All participants were approached in person by the researchers and asked to complete a questionnaire which they mailed back to our research centre in the reply-paid envelope supplied.

The data was compiled in an excel sheet and the chi square analysis method was used to calculate all p-values and test statistics (x²).

Results

38 patients responded – 4 had to be excluded as their consent form was not signed. Therefore, the study sample consisted of 34 patients (20 female and 14 male) of which 76% used at least one CAM.

The most popular CAMs for females were meditation and multivitamins versus prayer and multivitamins for males.

There was a strong correlation of CAM use with the female gender (p-value 0.0001, x²=14.945) with all females using at least one CAM versus 43% of males.

Private health insurance was not a predictive factor of CAM (32% versus 29%) giving a p-value of 0.6012, x²=0.2732. Higher levels of education did not correlate with CAM use either (p-value 0.8487, x²=0.036).

Conclusion:

This study demonstrates a high CAM use prevalence among the Tasmanian patient population with malignancy with multivitamins, meditation and prayer being the most popular.

Being of female gender was a strong predictive factor for CAM use however, higher levels of education and presence of private health insurance were not.

We hope the data from this study will prompt health professionals to engage in meaningful discussions with all patients with malignancy to ensure accurate and quality medical care provision.