A Survey of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Iran

作者：Abolhassani Hassan^*; Naseri Mohsen; Mahmoudzadeh Sanam

来源：Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2012, 18(6): 409-416.

DOI：10.1007/s11655-012-1124-9

• effectiveness
• complementary and alternative medicine
• conventional medicine

Objective: To survey the use, capability and satisfaction of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in comparison with conventional medicine in Iran. Methods: In this national survey, a cross-sectional study was designed, 5,000 people were surveyed to identify predictors of Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) use compared with conventional medicine. Data were collected through a questionnaire that covered three different predictor categories: demographic information, patient%26apos;s viewpoint, and patients experiences. Results: Most of the participants preferred government owned hospitals rather than other places. Praying for one%26apos;s own health was the most frequent and favorable ITM domain (P=0.017) based on patients%26apos; interests, both in low- (P=0.08) and high-level (P=0.011) educated subjects. Among the participants, 97.8% had previous conventional medicine history due to their chronic diseases Conclusions: Iranian patients resort to ITM as a choice at the late stage of the disease. Current deficiency in integration of CAM and conventional medicine is in contrast to the increasing demand on patients%26apos; side. Health care organizers should be facilitating the CAM services by tuition of CAM practitioners and supporting eligible CAM centers for diagnosis and treatment of patients.

• 出版日期2012-6