Highlights
- •A total of 85% of PwMS use NADS.
- •The most used products are vitamin D, fatty acids, multivitamins and calcium.
- •In total, 76% of PwMS use NADS concomitant with conventional MS-medicine.
- •Vitamins, minerals and fatty acids were often combined with conventional MS medicine.
- •Co-users was primarily young and newly diagnosed PwMS with higher education.
Abstract
Background
The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are widespread among people
with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) and are often used concomitant with conventional treatment.
Natural medicine and dietary supplements (NADS) are the most frequently used CAM modality
and among other patient groups use of NADS concomitant with conventional medicine
has been reported as a potential risk to patients’ safety due to risk of drug interactions.
The use of NADS concomitant with conventional medicine has, however, not been investigated
among PwMS. This study's aim was to investigate the prevalence of NADS and conventional
MS-related medicine use among PwMS, specific types of NADS and conventional MS-related
medicine used, the prevalence of NADS used concomitant with conventional MS-related
medicine, and to characterize PwMS who use NADS and PwMS who use NADS concomitant
with conventional MS-related medicine in a Danish context.
Methods
The study was a cross-sectional study conducted as an interviewer-administered survey
via phone in April 2019. The questionnaire includes questions about the use of NADS
and conventional MS medicine as well as sociodemographic and health-related factors.
In total 384 PwMS answered the questionnaire. Both descriptive and logistic analyses
were used to analyze the data.
Results
The results show that the majority of PwMS use conventional MS-related medicine. In
total, 85 % (n=322) had used at least one NADS within the last 12 months including
vitamin D. When excluding vitamin D, the use of NADS within the last 12 months was
78.4% (n=298). Beside vitamin D the most reported types of NADS used were fatty acids
(37%), Multivitamins (37%), and Calcium (35%). A total of 75.8% (n=288) reported using
NADS concomitant with conventional MS medicine, and the products most often combined
with conventional MS medicine were Vitamin D, Multivitamin, Calcium, Magnesium, and
fatty acids. The results suggest that PwMS using NADS concomitant with conventional
MS-related medicine are characterized by a high prevalence of young and newly diagnosed
patients with a high education level.
Conclusion
The study contributes to a better understanding of NADS used among PwMS. The study
shows that the majority of PwMS use NADS and that they use it concomitant with conventional
MS-medicine. Furthermore, the detailed mapping of the specific types of NADS used
gives a nuanced insight into the specific products of NADS used among PwMS, including
different kinds of vitamins, minerals, and herbal remedies.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 23, 2020
Accepted:
May 11,
2020
Received in revised form:
May 5,
2020
Received:
March 18,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
