Underreporting of complementary and alternative medicine use among arthritis patients in an orthopedic clinic

Underreporting of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use can negatively affect patient care. The degree of such underreporting in a clinical orthopedic setting was assessed in a cross-sectional study of 50 patients with osteoarthritis by administering a standard medical history and then a specific CAM-use questionnaire. Of these patients, 70% were using CAM, and 64% underreported CAM use on the standard medical history. The difference in CAM-use reporting between the 2 surveys was significant (P = .027). Mean individual CAM use was 1.53 times higher on the specific questionnaire than on the standard medical history. Study results demonstrate the prevalence of CAM use among orthopedic patients and significant increases in CAM reporting on the specific questionnaire.