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Doctors are urging pregnant Australian women to tell them about their use of complementary and alternative therapies after a new study found 90% are using such treatments, often on the advice of their friends and families.
Using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health pregnancy sub-survey of more than 1,800 women, researchers found almost half consulted a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner and almost 90% used a CAM product during pregnancy. More than 40% were influenced to do so by family and friends, while about half were influenced by their own use of CAM in the past.
“It is noteworthy that women were not significantly influenced by professional maternity healthcare providers when deciding to consult a CAM practitioner,” the study said.
Pregnant women experiencing back pain, sciatica, nausea or who were preparing for labour were most likely to take the advice of friends and family to see CAM practitioners, the researchers from Sydney and Queensland found. The findings were published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
Study lead author and research scholar from the University of Technology’s Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Jane Frawley, said women were also using the internet for advice on complementary medicine, but not as much as she anticipated.
“This may be due to issues around trust,” she said.
“Women may not always trust the internet, but a friend or family member saying that they found a particular remedy helpful for a particular pregnancy symptom is a powerful endorsement.”
