title: Demographic and health-related factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there are no reports on the association between CAM use and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in MS. To examine this relationship, a cross-sectional survey and SF-12 was used to collect demographic and HRQL data from 1667 survey respondents. Factors examined for their association with CAM use included, age, gender, race, self-reported disease severity, disease-modifying drug (DMT) use, MS duration, MS type, education level, physical and mental well-being. Multiple regression analysis revealed that female gender, high education level, longer MS duration, lower physical well-being and not using DMT were independent factors associated with both 'ever' and 'current' CAM use. The finding that a drop in physical component score (PCS) of the SF-12 is independently associated with an increased odds of 'ever' CAM use, 'current' CAM use, and 'past' CAM reflect an association of CAM use with PCS regardless of time of use. Although, temporality of this relationship cannot be established, as this was a cross-sectional study, a longitudinal study is warranted so that we can establish if HRQL is predictive for CAM use in MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. shintol@ohsu.edu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shinto
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lapidus
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Senders
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bourdette
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D009922:Oregon; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012720:Severity of Illness Index