Examining the utilization and clinical implications of Indian traditional medicine

The Government of India has made significant efforts to promote AYUSH to the public, resulting in an increase in its use in urban areas, contrary to previous studies, which warrant further investigation. This study explored the factors associated with AYUSH usage and the subsequent reasons.

This cross-sectional study used a secondary dataset from the NSSO's AYUSH survey, in which 621,230 respondents were selected. GEE logistic regression and chi-squared tests were used to test the association between various factors affecting AYUSH usage.

Awareness of AYUSH had the largest effect size among all variables, with an odds ratio of 24.17. Higher education, Hindu religion, backward castes, higher consumption, and urban residence were associated with higher AYUSH use. Cross-tabulations revealed that people used AYUSH to treat chronic illnesses, citing reasons such as safety, low pricing, and culture.

Although people are aware of AYUSH services, they lack understanding of the safety of medications, leading to unsupervised use for chronic illnesses. This unawareness stems from AYUSH's cultural lineage, which may result in poor health outcomes for patients. The integration of AYUSH with allopathic medicine is needed to minimize casualties. AYUSH's popularity in urban areas shows the success of government efforts, but the increase in private institutions may raise the prices of treatments. Future studies should longitudinally examine awareness, culture, and AYUSH use.

This study uses the latest NSSO AYUSH 2022-23, and no studies explored user perceptions of it. The study used GEE logistic regression, adjusting within correlations, and minimized sampling bias.