Use of Alternative Medicines among Medical Patients at Siriraj Hospital

Abstract

Alternative medicine is widely used throughout the world. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, patterns and cost of alternative medicine among patients attending the Department of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital. One hundred patients admitted to Department of Medicine and one hundred outpatients in the Department of Medicine in January 2000 were interviewed. Information concerning underlying medical conditions and details of use of alternative medicine including their cost and patient satisfaction were collected. The results revealed 1) 52.5% of the patients used at least one modality of alternative medicine 2) the most common modalities of alternative medicine were folk remedies or herbal medicine (72%) and massage (31%) 3) older patients and those living outside Bangkok, with underlying disease or who had received conventional medicine had a higher rate of use of alternative medicine 4) the main problems leading patients to use alternative medicine were musculoskeletal problem (41%), fever (16%) and fatigue (14%) 5) most of the patients (60%) were satisfied with the alternative medicine they received and 6) the cost of alternative medicine for each patient was 1,434 Baht per month for ex-user and 379 Baht per month for current-user. Based on the information obtained from this study, alternative medicine is commonly used by Thai patients and it is estimated that at least 155 million Baht has been spent on alternative medicine for all patients attending the Department of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital annually, and at least 6 billion Baht has been spent on alternative medicine for all patients in Thailand each year.