Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Use amongst  Antenatal in a Rural Tertiary Care Hospital of Haryana

Authors

CAM: Complementary and alternative medicine, pregnant, antenatal.

Background - WHO defines ‘Traditional medicine’ as the sum total of the knowledge, skills and practices

based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not,

used in the maintenance of health, as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of

physical and mental illnesses.

Aims and Objective - To study Complementary and alternative medicinal use in addition to allopathic

medicine amongst pregnant women visiting antenatal clinics in a rural tertiary care hospital of Haryana.

Material and Method – Antenatal women attending the Outpatient Department in a tertiary care hospital

situated in a rural area in Haryana.

Study Design – A prospective , cross sectional study

Result – A total of 128 pregnant women participated in the study. Majority of these i.e 83% reported use of

CAM during pregnancy. However pregnant women came forward with history of CAM use only after great

persuasion.

Conclusion –CAM is commonly used by majority of pregnant women in antenatal period. Rural women with

low sociodemographic status with lesser education , home maker and unbooked pregnancy are vulnerable

group for the CAM use. Moreover extremely low level of communication between CAM user and health

care provider is worrisome and demands that physician should inquire their patients about the use of CAM.

Ruby Bhatia, Prem Khosla2, Sunita Mor3 , Neha Vashishat4 , Gaurav Aggarwal5

1 Professor & Head Of Department, 2 Prof Pharmacology,3Asst. Prof Obs & Gynae), 4Ms Obs & Gynae Resident, 5DM Cardiology Resident, Department of Obs & Gynae, MM Institute of Medical Science, (Deemed To Be University), Mullana, Ambala (India)