Abstract
Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high among chronic illness like arthritis to derive additional beneï¬ts Aim and Objective: To examine CAM use among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in 100 patients having rheumatoid arthritis reporting to medical OPD of tertiary-care hospital. Patients were asked to respond to a predesigned questionnaire pertaining to demographic proï¬le and CAM usage. Result:CAMusewashighamongRA(60%)patientsmoresowithlongerdurationofdisease(81.66%).Majorityofpatients werefromruralbackground(80%)above40yearsage(87%)andwerefemales.Ofall,75%patientstooktoCAMafteranti- rheumatoid drugs and lack of relief was the main reason. Ayurveda was most common type of CAM (35%) used and relatives werethe principalsourceof information (58.33%).Most of thepatients (61.66%) of rheumatoidarthritis reported relief with CAM.Conclusion: CAM use is high among RA patients especially in females and patients with longer duration of disease. Lack of beneï¬t from anti-rheumatoid drugs was the main reason of CAM usage. Ayurveda was the most common type of CAM used. Therefore, the outcome of the study calls for the attention of treating physician regarding CAM use as some orally used CAM therapies can be harmful due to possibility of interactions and heavy metals.