People with multiple sclerosis in Denmark who use complementary and alternative medicine-Do subgroups of patients differ?

Aim of the studyThe aim of this study was to describe and compare characteristics of subgroups of CAM users among people with MS in Denmark.Materials and methodsAn Internet-based questionnaire was used for data collection among 3361 patient members of the Danish MS society. The final response rate was 55.5%. The respondents were asked about their use of various treatments within the past year and were subsequently divided into subgroups of: (1) those who had combined CAM treatments and conventional pharmacological treatments (74.2%), (2) those who had combined CAM treatments and conventional non-pharmacological treatments (16.0%) and (3) those who had used CAM treatments exclusively (9.8%). Statistical associations were presented as odds ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals.ResultsWhen comparing with the other subgroups, those who had used CAM and conventional pharmacological treatments in combination were characterized by more often having other conditions than MS, more often using CAM for specific purposes and more often using herbal medicine. Exclusive CAM users were characterized by more often foregoing disease-modifying medicine for MS, more often using special diet and more often reporting a high self-assessed quality of life. The exclusive CAM users were also characterized by less often experiencing side effects and less often assessing the CAM treatments used positively.ConclusionSome differences in background characteristics, as well as in characteristics related to the use of CAM, were found between subgroups