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      Perceptions, use and attitudes of pharmacy customers on complementary medicines and pharmacy practice

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          Abstract

          Background

          Complementary medicines (CMs) are popular amongst Australians and community pharmacy is a major supplier of these products. This study explores pharmacy customer use, attitudes and perceptions of complementary medicines, and their expectations of pharmacists as they relate to these products.

          Methods

          Pharmacy customers randomly selected from sixty large and small, metropolitan and rural pharmacies in three Australian states completed an anonymous, self administered questionnaire that had been pre-tested and validated.

          Results

          1,121 customers participated (response rate 62%). 72% had used CMs within the previous 12 months, 61% used prescription medicines daily and 43% had used both concomitantly. Multivitamins, fish oils, vitamin C, glucosamine and probiotics were the five most popular CMs. 72% of people using CMs rated their products as 'very effective' or 'effective enough'. CMs were as frequently used by customers aged 60 years or older as younger customers (69% vs. 72%) although the pattern of use shifted with older age.

          Most customers (92%) thought pharmacists should provide safety information about CMs, 90% thought they should routinely check for interactions, 87% thought they should recommend effective CMs, 78% thought CMs should be recorded in customer's medication profile and 58% thought pharmacies stocking CMs should also employ a complementary medicine practitioner. Of those using CMs, 93% thought it important for pharmacists to be knowledgeable about CMs and 48% felt their pharmacist provides useful information about CMs.

          Conclusions

          CMs are widely used by pharmacy customers of all ages who want pharmacists to be more involved in providing advice about these products.

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          Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey.

          D M Eisenberg, R B Davis, S L Ettner … (1998)
          A prior national survey documented the high prevalence and costs of alternative medicine use in the United States in 1990. To document trends in alternative medicine use in the United States between 1990 and 1997. Nationally representative random household telephone surveys using comparable key questions were conducted in 1991 and 1997 measuring utilization in 1990 and 1997, respectively. A total of 1539 adults in 1991 and 2055 in 1997. Prevalence, estimated costs, and disclosure of alternative therapies to physicians. Use of at least 1 of 16 alternative therapies during the previous year increased from 33.8% in 1990 to 42.1% in 1997 (P < or = .001). The therapies increasing the most included herbal medicine, massage, megavitamins, self-help groups, folk remedies, energy healing, and homeopathy. The probability of users visiting an alternative medicine practitioner increased from 36.3% to 46.3% (P = .002). In both surveys alternative therapies were used most frequently for chronic conditions, including back problems, anxiety, depression, and headaches. There was no significant change in disclosure rates between the 2 survey years; 39.8% of alternative therapies were disclosed to physicians in 1990 vs 38.5% in 1997. The percentage of users paying entirely out-of-pocket for services provided by alternative medicine practitioners did not change significantly between 1990 (64.0%) and 1997 (58.3%) (P=.36). Extrapolations to the US population suggest a 47.3% increase in total visits to alternative medicine practitioners, from 427 million in 1990 to 629 million in 1997, thereby exceeding total visits to all US primary care physicians. An estimated 15 million adults in 1997 took prescription medications concurrently with herbal remedies and/or high-dose vitamins (18.4% of all prescription users). Estimated expenditures for alternative medicine professional services increased 45.2% between 1990 and 1997 and were conservatively estimated at $21.2 billion in 1997, with at least $12.2 billion paid out-of-pocket. This exceeds the 1997 out-of-pocket expenditures for all US hospitalizations. Total 1997 out-of-pocket expenditures relating to alternative therapies were conservatively estimated at $27.0 billion, which is comparable with the projected 1997 out-of-pocket expenditures for all US physician services. Alternative medicine use and expenditures increased substantially between 1990 and 1997, attributable primarily to an increase in the proportion of the population seeking alternative therapies, rather than increased visits per patient.
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            Complementary and alternative medicine use in Australia: a national population-based survey.

            Charlie Xue, Anthony Zhang, Vivian Lin … (2007)
            To investigate the use of and expenditure on 17 of the most popular forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by adult Australians, sociodemographic characteristics of CAM users, and communication between CAM users and their doctors. In May-June 2005, a sample of 1067 adults, 18 years and older, from all Australian states and territories, was recruited by random-digit telephone dialing and interviewed about their CAM use in the previous 12 months. In the 12-month period, 68.9% (95% CI: 66.1%-71.7%) of those interviewed used at least one of the 17 forms of CAM and 44.1% (95% confidence interval: 41.1%-47.1%) visited a CAM practitioner. The estimated number of visits to CAM practitioners by adult Australians in the 12-month period (69.2 million) was almost identical to the estimated number of visits to medical practitioners (69.3 million). The annual "out of pocket" expenditure on CAM, nationally, was estimated as 4.13 billion Australian dollars (US $3.12 billion). Less than half of the users always informed their medical practitioners about their use of CAM. The most common characteristics of CAM users were: age, 18-34; female; employed; well-educated; private health insurance coverage; and higher-than-average incomes. CAM use nationally in Australia appears to be considerably higher than estimated from previous Australian studies. This may reflect an increasing popularity of CAM; however, regional variations in CAM use and the broader range of CAM included in the current study may contribute to the difference. Most frequently, doctors would not appear to be aware of their patient use of CAM.
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              Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiovascular diseases.

              Carl Lavie, Richard V Milani, Mandeep R. Mehra … (2009)
              Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (omega-3 PUFA) therapy continues to show great promise in primary and, particularly in secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. The most compelling evidence for CV benefits of omega-3 PUFA comes from 4 controlled trials of nearly 40,000 participants randomized to receive eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) with or without docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in studies of patients in primary prevention, after myocardial infarction, and most recently, with heart failure (HF). We discuss the evidence from retrospective epidemiologic studies and from large randomized controlled trials showing the benefits of omega-3 PUFA, specifically EPA and DHA, in primary and secondary CV prevention and provide insight into potential mechanisms of these observed benefits. The target EPA + DHA consumption should be at least 500 mg/day for individuals without underlying overt CV disease and at least 800 to 1,000 mg/day for individuals with known coronary heart disease and HF. Further studies are needed to determine optimal dosing and the relative ratio of DHA and EPA omega-3 PUFA that provides maximal cardioprotection in those at risk of CV disease as well in the treatment of atherosclerotic, arrhythmic, and primary myocardial disorders.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Complement Altern Med
                Title: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
                Publisher: BioMed Central
                ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6882
                Publication date Collection: 2010
                Publication date (Electronic): 20 July 2010
                Volume: 10
                Page: 38
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Cardiothoracic Surgical Research Unit, Department of Surgery, Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
                [2 ]Department of Pharmacy, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
                [3 ]Department of Pharmacy, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
                [4 ]School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia
                [5 ]Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Australia
                [6 ]Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine School Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
                Article
                Publisher ID: 1472-6882-10-38
                DOI: 10.1186/1472-6882-10-38
                PMC ID: 2919443
                PubMed ID: 20646290
                SO-VID: d660c02c-a077-44e3-bd7f-5bd407e2713a
                Copyright © Copyright ©2010 Braun et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
                License:

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 17 March 2010
                Date accepted : 20 July 2010
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine

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