ArticleCancer causes & control : CCC2022
Prevalence of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) among adult cancer patients in Malawi.
Article in Cancer causes & control : CCC, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- An exploratory evaluation of the interaction risk between herbal products and pharmaceutical medicines used concurrently for disease management in Blantyre, Malawi.Pharmaceutical biology · 2025Article
- Perception of Complementary Medicine and Treatment Adherence as Predictors of Self-Efficacy in Individuals with Chronic Conditions in Mexico.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2024Article
- Pharmacokinetics of Dasatinib in Rats: a Potential Food-Drug Interaction with Naringenin.European journal of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics · 2024Article
- The use of traditional and complementary medicine by cancer patients in SSA: A scoping review.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Review
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Abstract
purposeThe objective of this study is to document the prevalence of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) use by adult cancer patients at a national teaching hospital in Malawi. We aim to document the products/therapies used, the reason for use, as well as patient-reported satisfaction with TCAM practitioners and modalities.
methodsWe conducted investigator-administered interviews with adult cancer patients presenting to the Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) Cancer Clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi between January and July 2018. The KCH is a national teaching hospital in the capital of Lilongwe, which serves patients with cancer from the northern half of Malawi. Descriptive statistics were used to describe TCAM use and logistic regression was applied to identify predictors of TCAM.
resultsA total of 263 participants completed the survey, of which 70% (n = 183) were female and average age was 45 (SD 14) years old. The prevalence of overall TCAM use was 84% (n = 222), and 60% (n = 157) of participants reported combining TCAM with conventional cancer treatment. The majority of patients used TCAM to directly treat their cancer versus for symptom management. Patients reported using faith-based healing (64%, n = 168), herbal medicine (56%, n = 148), diet change (46%, n = 120), and vitamins/minerals (23%, n = 61). Participants reported the highest satisfaction for physicians among practitioners and diet change for modalities. Female gender was found to be a predictor of TCAM with conventional treatment use, no other significant predictors were observed.
conclusionThere is a high prevalence of TCAM use among an adult population with cancer in Malawi, and a wide variety in the TCAM modalities used among patients. Additional studies are needed to identify risks and benefits of TCAM use to assist with policy and public health, patient safety, and holistically address the global burden of cancer.
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