Religious/spiritual faith and use of complementary and alternative medicine among Danish cardiac patients. Preliminary results from the Cardiac Recovery Study

By PhD, MSc., Christina Gundgaard Pedersen1, Ph.D. Fellow., MSc., Licenced, Sidsel Bekke-Hansen1, Mikael Thastum1, Kristian Thygesen2, Søren Christensen1, Robert Zachariae1 1Unit for Psycho-social Cancer Research and Health Psychology,Aarhus University & Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark 2The Department of Medicine and Cardiology A, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark Post Conference Ressources CV – open here

Abstract
Background
Limited knowledge exists regarding the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among Danish cardiac patients. While a few studies of cancer patients and healthy population samples have demonstrated a relationship between faith and CAM-use, no studies have examined whether CAM-use is related to a specific conviction within a secular society.
Aim
To investigate the prevalence of 12 different CAM therapies within the past year among patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and to explore if CAM-use was related to a particular faith conviction.
Methods
A total of 97 hospitalized ACS patients (70 male; age 28-76) provided questionnaire information as part of the ongoing prospective study: The Cardiac Recovery Study. Use of specific types of CAM within the past year, faith in God, faith in a higher spiritual power, and experienced religious, spiritual, and existential considerations since time of hospitalization were measured as part of the baseline questionnaire.
Results
A total of 31.8% had used CAM within the past year. The types of CAM being used were distributed as follows: Dietary or nutrition supplements (14.8%), massage (8%), nutrition or exercise counselling (6.8%), needle acupuncture (5.7%), herbal medicine (3.4%), reflexology (3.4%), relaxation or yoga (3.4%), meditation (2.3%), hypnosis (2.3%), imagery (1.1%), kinesiology (1.1%), and others (2.3%). Those having used CAM within the past year were more inclined to have faith in a higher spiritual power (χ²=13.21, p=.001). Faith in God, however, was not found to be associated with CAM-use (p=.10). Patients having used CAM within the past year experienced more religious (χ²=4.06, p=.04), spiritual (χ²=8.03, p=.005), and existential (χ²=12.41, p<.001) considerations after hospitalization for a cardiac event when compared to non-users.
Conclusion
The present findings suggest that use of CAM is primarily related to faith in a higher spiritual power and not to faith in a personal God. CAM may be used to comply with needs and considerations associated with a spiritual faith, or spiritual considerations after hospitalization may be influenced by previous CAM-use.