Will she-won’t she: determinants of complementary and alternative medicines use among female rheumatoid arthritis patients

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases targeting mainly the synovium or cellular lining of bone joints. The first line therapies employed for RA often fail to offer satisfactory efficacy and therefore many patients opt for complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). The present study aimed to assess the type and extent of CAM usage among RA patients visiting rheumatology clinics taking into account the socio-demographic profile and perception of the RA patients towards CAM usage. A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in the top Rheumatology clinics of Hyderabad, Telangana with 200 RA female patients and the obtained data were analysed using logistic regression. Survey revealed that more than 54% of the respondents used some form of CAM and 45% of the patients were reluctant to reveal the use of CAM to their allopathic clinicians. The results showed that patients with basic education (school/undergraduate) used CAM with a probability of 4.622 compared to an illiterate. It was found that patients experiencing moderate sensory pain had a probability of 31.176 to use CAM than the ones with no sensory pain. A significant relationship between depression and CAM usage was found which revealed CAM usage with a probability of 3.43 compared to patients with no depression. Comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, thyroid, etc. discouraged CAM usage. CAM is preferred at the initial stage of pain among RA patients but as the pain reaches higher levels patients opt for allopathy or allopathy along with CAM for synergistic or faster relief.