Use of Complementary and Alternatives Medicine Among Cancer Patients

Background: The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is common among cancer patients with the hope to manage the symptoms which arise from the cancer related treatment or to improve the quality of life. Here in this study we describe the Complementary and Alternative Medicines, mostly used medicine and type of cancer among respondents. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample. Data was collected from 91 cancer patients attending in OPD of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital using a structured interview schedule from 2022/08/07 to 2022/08/19. The collected data was entered in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) versíon 16 and analyzed by using descriptive methods (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation). Results: The study revealed that the prevalence of use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) was 40.7%, among them, Ayurveda (56.2%) was the most common type of Complementary and Alternative Medicine used. Among CAM users, the most common reason for using CAM was to reduce side effects of cancer related treatment (59.4%). Regarding perceived satisfaction on use, the majority of the respondents (89.1%) were satisfied with CAM use. Although many cancer patients use CAM along with cancer treatment, they do not disclose it to their doctors. Among CAM users, only 37.8% of respondents consulted with their doctor about the initiation of CAM use. Gynecological cancer (41.7%) was the most common site of cancer seen among the respondents followed by respiratory (19.7%) and gastro-intestinal (18.6%) respectively. Regarding stage, 30.8% of the respondents were in the third stage of cancer. Conclusion: This study concludes that less than half of the cancer patients are using CAM among which majority of the patients are using Ayurvedic medicine along with cancer treatment. As the use of CAM therapy among cancer patients is expanding, further study on potential risk and benefits associated with CAM therapy is needed. Key words: Cancer patient, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, sample size