Background: Despite all the marvelous advancements in modern medicine, traditional medicine (TM) has always been practiced.
Aim of the work: We aimed to assess Patterns of utilization and outcome of complementary and alternative medicine among primary health care attendees in Tabuk, KSA.
Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted among 345 patients attending the primary health care centers (PHC) in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia during the period from January 2015 to January 2016. Participants were selected from 29 centers by a stratified selection method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data, going to a non-medical practitioner (TH) for advice about a health problem within the last year, the reason for that, type of TH provided prescription/advice, outcome, and personal satisfaction. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. The Chi-square and Fischer exact tests were used to examine the associations and differences between two categorical variables.
Results: Participants (57.1% males), 62.9% had a history of visiting a Traditional Healer, Visiting a traditional healer was commoner among females (72.3% versus 55.8%, p=0.002)No significant statistical differences were found regarding other characteristics. Ineffective medical management was the reason in 55.3%, while the firm belief in TH that it was the reason behind 36.9%. Medical treatment was the most frequent (50.7%) followed by Zikr (25.8%), 87.6% said the visits were affordable, and 70% of visitors improved.
Conclusion: Traditional medicine practice was prevalent in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia and was most prevalent among females. No significant differences were found between traditional medicine visitors and their counterparts regarding other characteristics.