Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Osteoporosis and Osteopenia Patients

Background: CAM therapies are popular today. In Turkey, there have been many studies on the use of CAM, and a generally high rate of CAM use is noticeable. However, no study was found on the use of CAM methods by osteoporotic patients in this country. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the use of CAM methods by patients with osteoporosis or osteopenia and affecting factors. Methods: The population of the descriptive study consisted of 201 patients with osteoporosis or osteopenia who had come to the university hospital in Izmir, Turkey between July 2016 and January 2017. The data of the study were collected with a questionnaire developed by the researchers. The questionnaire consisted of three sections and 30 questions. The presence of osteoporosis or osteopenia in patients was determined by examining the t score in the bone densitometry result obtained at the time of the research. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.05±12.71 years. It was found that 70.6 % of the patients had used at least one type of CAM during the previous 12 months. The most preferred types of CAM were diet (66.9%), exercise (51.4%), vitamin D (32.4%), Ca (30.9%), and herbal therapies (%19.1). CAM users had a higher educational level than CAM non-users (x2=13.710, p