TY - JOUR
T1 - Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with cluster headache
T2 - Results of a multi-centre headache clinic survey
AU - Rossi, Paolo
AU - Torelli, Paola
AU - Di Lorenzo, Cherubino
AU - Sances, Grazia
AU - Manzoni, Gian Camillo
AU - Tassorelli, Cristina
AU - Nappi, Giuseppe
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - Objectives: To evaluate the rates, pattern, satisfaction with, and presence of predictors of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in a clinical population of patients with cluster headache (CH). Design and setting: One hundred CH patients attending one of three headache clinics were asked to undergo a physician-administered structured interview designed to gather information on CAM use. Results: Past use of CAM therapies was reported by 29% of the patients surveyed, with 10% having used CAM in the previous year. Only 8% of the therapies used were perceived as effective, while a partial effectiveness was reported in 28% of CAM treatments. The most common source of recommendation of CAM was a friend or relative (54%). Approximately 62% of CAM users had not informed their medical doctors of their CAM use. The most common reason for deciding to try a CAM therapy was that it offered a "potential improvement of headache" (44.8%). Univariate analysis showed that CAM users had a higher income, had a higher lifetime number of conventional medical doctor visits, had consulted more headache specialists, had a higher number of CH attacks per year, and had a significantly higher proportion of chronic CH versus episodic CH. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed and two variables remained as significant predictors of CAM use: income level (OR = 5.7, CI = 1.6-9.1, p = 0.01), and number of attacks per year (OR = 3.08, CI = 1.64-6.7, p <0.0001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CH patients, in their need of and quest for care, seek and explore both conventional and CAM approaches, even though only a very small minority finds them very satisfactory.
AB - Objectives: To evaluate the rates, pattern, satisfaction with, and presence of predictors of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in a clinical population of patients with cluster headache (CH). Design and setting: One hundred CH patients attending one of three headache clinics were asked to undergo a physician-administered structured interview designed to gather information on CAM use. Results: Past use of CAM therapies was reported by 29% of the patients surveyed, with 10% having used CAM in the previous year. Only 8% of the therapies used were perceived as effective, while a partial effectiveness was reported in 28% of CAM treatments. The most common source of recommendation of CAM was a friend or relative (54%). Approximately 62% of CAM users had not informed their medical doctors of their CAM use. The most common reason for deciding to try a CAM therapy was that it offered a "potential improvement of headache" (44.8%). Univariate analysis showed that CAM users had a higher income, had a higher lifetime number of conventional medical doctor visits, had consulted more headache specialists, had a higher number of CH attacks per year, and had a significantly higher proportion of chronic CH versus episodic CH. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed and two variables remained as significant predictors of CAM use: income level (OR = 5.7, CI = 1.6-9.1, p = 0.01), and number of attacks per year (OR = 3.08, CI = 1.64-6.7, p <0.0001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CH patients, in their need of and quest for care, seek and explore both conventional and CAM approaches, even though only a very small minority finds them very satisfactory.
KW - Cluster headache
KW - Complementary and alternative medicine
KW - Health care use
KW - Integrative medicine
KW - Survey
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ctim.2007.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.ctim.2007.05.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 18638713
AN - SCOPUS:47149086462
VL - 16
SP - 220
EP - 227
JO - Complementary Therapies in Medicine
JF - Complementary Therapies in Medicine
SN - 0965-2299
IS - 4
ER -