Prevalence and factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine use among patients with hypertension in Turbo, Kenya

Abstract

Background: The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is widespread and high utilization rate has been associated with people who have chronic conditions like hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, hypertension is the leading risk factor for mortality and this is attributed to low compliance to recommended conventional treatment due to barriers such as CAM use. Objectives: This study aimed at establishing the prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) use among patients with hypertension in Turbo Sub County in Kenya. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted which utilized a well-structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Data was collected from 233 patients who were randomly selected from the patient register at the public health facilities. Stratified probability proportional to size method was used to obtain the number of patients interviewed per facility. Socio-demographic (age, sex, marital status, occupation, level of income and religion) and clinical profiles of the participants were summarized using descriptive statistics. Categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages. The test for association between categorical variables was conducted using Pearson’s Chi Square test. A variable was considered significant if the p-value was less than 0.05 Results: The prevalence of CAM use was 33.5% (78). Herbal treatment was the most prevalent form of CAM at 96.1% (74). Age and alcohol use were significantly associated with use of CAM with P value of 0.015 and 0.012 respectively. Conclusion: CAM prevalence is high despite increased access to affordable health care at the primary health care facilities. The most common types of CAM herbal medicines. Patients aged 65 years and above, history of alcohol use, friends and family influenced the use of CAM. Recommendations: CAM practice is common among patients with hypertension, therefore it is important for clinicians to identify ways of discussing CAM with patients during clinical encounters especially among the elderly and those with history of alcohol use. Further studies can explore the effectiveness of herbal therapies used in hypertension management and associated side effects Qualitative research can be done to give insights to why CAM practice is still common.