Quality of life and complementary and alternative medicine use among women with breast cancer.

Background: Complementary and Alternative Medication (CAM) is commonly used among women with breast cancer to improve their quality of life (QoL). However, few studies examine the prevalence of CAM and its' relation to the patients' QoL among women with breast cancer.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 95 women with breast cancer at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. The outcome measure of interest was the QoL. The correlation was used to assess the association between CAM use and QoL. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the factors that affect the use of CAM. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0.

Results: CAM use was reported by 81.1% of the study participants. The most commonly used CAM therapy was spiritual therapy 70.5%, followed by honey 36.8%, olive oil 24.2% and 23.2% herbal therapy. We found that those who were undergoing cancer treatment had a significantly higher percentage of CAM usage as compared to those not undergoing cancer therapy (72.6% vs. 8.4%, P =0.008). With regards to QoL, there was a statistically significant difference between CAM users and non-CAM users in global health status (73.2% vs. 64.8%, P = 0.049).

Conclusions: CAM therapy was commonly used among women in our study sample which was correlated with higher overall global QoL. As CAM is widely used, health care providers may need to discuss the use of CAM with breast cancer women and be up to date on the benefits and risk of CAM use through well-equipped training programs and workshops.