RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Factors Associated with the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Korean Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP jrheum.141447
DO 10.3899/jrheum.141447
A1 Minkyung Han
A1 Yoon-Kyoung Sung
A1 Soo-Kyung Cho
A1 Dam Kim
A1 Soyoung Won
A1 Chan-Bum Choi
A1 So-Young Bang
A1 Hoon-Suk Cha
A1 Jung-Yoon Choe
A1 Won Tae  Chung
A1 Seung-Jae Hong
A1 Jae-Bum Jun
A1 Young Ok  Jung
A1 Seong-Kyu Kim
A1 Tae-Hwan Kim
A1 Eunmi Koh
A1 Hye-Soon Lee
A1 Jisoo Lee
A1 Joo-Hyun Lee
A1 Shin-Seok Lee
A1 Seong-Su Nah
A1 Seung-Cheol Shim
A1 Dae-Hyun Yoo
A1 Wan-Hee Yoo
A1 Bo Young  Yoon
A1 Sun Ha  Jee
A1 Sang-Cheol Bae
YR 2015
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2015/08/26/jrheum.141447.abstract
AB Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that is often painful and debilitating. Patients with RA are increasingly receiving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). We aimed to identify the patient characteristics and disease-specific factors associated with Korean patients with RA who decide to start treatment with CAM. Methods Among the total 5371 patients with RA in the KORean Observational study Network for Arthritis (KORONA), 2175 patients who had no experience with CAM were included in our study. In our study, we assessed the frequency of new incident CAM use, its patterns, and the predictive factors of new CAM use. Results Of the 2175 patients, 229 patients (10.5%) newly started receiving CAM within a year of enrolling in the cohort. Of those who started treatment with CAM, 17.0% received only herbal medicine, 54.6% only acupuncture treatments (7.0% used a combination of both), and 21.4% “Other” (e.g., physical therapy and placental extract injections). Women (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.13–3.14) and patients with depression (OR 3.52, 95% CI 1.65–7.50) were significantly more likely to be treated with CAM. Regarding household types, patients who lived in an extended family (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.08–2.95) or as part of a couple (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.07–2.24) were more likely to be treated with CAM than patients living in a nuclear family. Conclusion Our study found, within a year, an incidence rate of 10.5% for new CAM use among patients with no previous experience with CAM. Sex, depression, and household type were significantly associated with new CAM use.