Abstracts

Rationale: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is prevalent in Asian patients with chronic diseases. Previous studies have reported that healthcare providers were often not informed about CAM use in patients on chronic medications. This study aims to characterize CAM usage and identify predictors of CAM usage in adult patients with epilepsy (PwE) in a multiracial community. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary adult neurology clinic in Singapore from September 2016 to January 2017. Patients with epilepsy were recruited to complete an interviewer-administered survey. Those who declined participation, unable to provide informed consent independently or lacked understanding of English or Chinese were excluded. Results: Out of the 113 adult PwEs surveyed (mean age: 43.9 + 12.6), 46.9% were male and almost 80% were Chinese. Overall CAM use was 80.5%, with the most frequently reported being vitamins and supplements (60.4%), traditional herbs (31.9%) and prayers (31.9%). The main reasons cited for CAM use were for general health (46.4%), seizure control (14.3%) and improve mood and relaxation (12.7%). Among those who indicated CAM use for seizure control, prayers (50%), meditation (18.2%) and traditional herbs (13.2%) were commonly used. Majority (70%) of the oral CAM users did not disclose CAM usage to their healthcare providers and only 16% considered the risk of interactions with antiepileptic drugs. Multivariate analysis showed that patients with tertiary education (OR=4.83, 95% CI 1.43-16.33) and non-Chinese (OR=7.32, 95% CI 1.25-43.01) were more likely to use CAM. Conclusions: CAM use is prevalent among our adult PwE. There is limited disclosure of CAM usage to healthcare providers and lack of awareness of potential antiepileptic drug interactions risk with oral CAM use. Active enquiry by healthcare providers on CAM use may provide opportunities to discuss safe modalities for unmet needs.     Funding: None