Doctor communication quality and Friends' attitudes influence complementary medicine use in inflammatory bowel disease

Table 1 Demographics in contrasting inflammatory bowel disease cohorts

	FMC (n = 337)	Private (n = 91)	Darwin (n = 35)	P value
Mean age respondents (yr)	50.3	52.2	48.4	0.35
Mean age non respondents (yr)	43.0	48.1	39.9	0.20
Female respondents	60.2%	60.4%	60%	0.99
Female non respondents	55.7%	52.4%	40.7%	0.07
Crohn’s disease	55.2%	57.1%	48.6%	0.70
Indigenous subjects	0.9%	1.1%	2.9%	0.37
Current smokers	11.1%	13.6%	17.1%	0.09
Previous smokers	25.8%	25.0%	42.9%	0.09
Receiving disability support pension	1.8%	1.1%	5.7%	0.006
Employed	58.7%	56.7%	62.9%	0.19
Currently partnered	92.2	95.3	93.3	0.61

Table 2 Distribution of complementary and alternative therapy types reported by inflammatory bowel disease subjects

Primary (first mentioned) CAM type	Percentage of total CAM reported overall
Herbal products (e.g., slippery elm, aloe vera juice, olive oil extract, green lipped mussel oil, other herbs)	30.50%
Probiotics	22.60%
Fish oil	12.10%
Chinese medicine	10.50%
Acupuncture, massage, magnetism	10.50%
Other (prayer, meditation, exercise, dietary supplements, hypnotherapy)	13.70%

CAM: Complementary and alternative therapy.

Table 3 Attitudinal and behavioural associations of regular complementary and alternative therapy use - univariate analysis n (%)

		Regular CAM use		P value
		No	Yes
Deliberate dose reduction	No	197 (61.4)	124 (38.6)	< 0.001
	Yes	46 (38.7)	73 (61.3)
Family or friends use alternative treatments	No	88 (55.0)	72 (45.0)	0.004
	Yes	85 (40.1)	127 (59.9)
Experienced adverse effects conventional IBD meds	No	89 (59.7)	60 (40.3)	0.025
	Yes	129 (48.3)	138 (51.7)
Satisfied with communication with IBD doctor	No	1 (9.1)	10 (90.9)	0.002
	Yes	246 (55.7)	196 (44.3)
Previous psychological counselling	No	197 (61.6)	123 (38.4)	< 0.001
	Yes	49 (38.0)	80 (62.0)

CAM: Complementary and alternative therapy; IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease.

Table 4 Anxiety, depression, quality of life and personality traits in users vs non users of cam in inflammatory bowel disease - univariate analysis

	Regular CAM use	Mean	SD	SE	2 tailed P value
Anxiety (HADS)	No	8.3312	3.50750	0.09032	0.017
	Yes	8.6365	3.18002	0.08969
Depression (HADS)	No	6.8774	2.85105	0.07354	0.002
	Yes	6.5556	2.67318	0.07540
SIBDQ	No	56.0152	9.71282	0.25137	< 0.001
	Yes	58.1210	9.57504	0.27126
Trait anxiety	No	21.0042	2.53088	0.06539	0.341
	Yes	21.0957	2.48538	0.07019
Trait curiosity	No	25.831	6.13307	0.15836	0.916
	Yes	25.8549	5.71720	0.16158
Trait anger	No	11.3837	3.93971	0.10169	0.385
	Yes	11.5097	3.60996	0.10202
Trait depression	No	18.9960	3.59568	0.09293	0.744
	Yes	19.0385	3.12376	0.08818

Table 5 Independent attitudinal predictors of regular complementary and alternative therapy use in inflammatory bowel disease - logistic regression analysis

	Odds ratio	95%CI	P value
Covert dose reduction	2.588	2.135-3.138	< 0.001
Seeking psychological treatment	1.888	1.563-2.280	< 0.001
Family and friends are regular CAM users	1.710	1.434-2.044	< 0.001
Dissatisfied with doctor communication	1.561	1.304-1.869	< 0.001
Adverse effects conventional medications	1.208	1.006-1.467	0.043
Depression (HADS)	0.910	0.878-0.943	< 0.001
Quality of life (SIBDQ)	1.022	1.011-1.032	< 0.001

CAM: Complementary and alternative therapy.