TY - JOUR
T1 - Demographic and health-related factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in multiple sclerosis
AU - Shinto, Lynne
AU - Yadav, V.
AU - Morris, C.
AU - Lapidus, J. A.
AU - Senders, A.
AU - Bourdette, D.
PY - 2006/2
Y1 - 2006/2
N2 - Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there are no reports on the association between CAM use and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in MS. To examine this relationship, a cross-sectional survey and SF-12 was used to collect demographic and HRQL data from 1667 survey respondents. Factors examined for their association with CAM use included, age, gender, race, self-reported disease severity, disease-modifying drug (DMT) use, MS duration, MS type, education level, physical and mental well-being. Multiple regression analysis revealed that female gender, high education level, longer MS duration, lower physical well-being and not using DMT were independent factors associated with both 'ever' and 'current' CAM use. The finding that a drop in physical component score (PCS) of the SF-12 is independently associated with an increased odds of 'ever' CAM use, 'current' CAM use, and 'past' CAM reflect an association of CAM use with PCS regardless of time of use. Although, temporality of this relationship cannot be established, as this was a cross-sectional study, a longitudinal study is warranted so that we can establish if HRQL is predictive for CAM use in MS.
AB - Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there are no reports on the association between CAM use and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in MS. To examine this relationship, a cross-sectional survey and SF-12 was used to collect demographic and HRQL data from 1667 survey respondents. Factors examined for their association with CAM use included, age, gender, race, self-reported disease severity, disease-modifying drug (DMT) use, MS duration, MS type, education level, physical and mental well-being. Multiple regression analysis revealed that female gender, high education level, longer MS duration, lower physical well-being and not using DMT were independent factors associated with both 'ever' and 'current' CAM use. The finding that a drop in physical component score (PCS) of the SF-12 is independently associated with an increased odds of 'ever' CAM use, 'current' CAM use, and 'past' CAM reflect an association of CAM use with PCS regardless of time of use. Although, temporality of this relationship cannot be established, as this was a cross-sectional study, a longitudinal study is warranted so that we can establish if HRQL is predictive for CAM use in MS.
KW - Complementary medicine
KW - Health survey
KW - Multiple sclerosis
KW - Quality of life
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=31644438191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=31644438191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1191/1352458506ms1230oa
DO - 10.1191/1352458506ms1230oa
M3 - Article
C2 - 16459725
AN - SCOPUS:31644438191
SN - 1352-4585
VL - 12
SP - 94
EP - 100
JO - Multiple Sclerosis
JF - Multiple Sclerosis
IS - 1
ER -