Complementary and alternative medicines among diabetic patients attending the clinical laboratory of Centre MURAZ, Burkina Faso

Abstract

The use of complementary and alternative medicine in the management of diabetes is of growing health and economic importance in  Africa. This study aimed to determine medicinal practices among diabetic patients attending the clinical laboratory of Centre MURAZ,  Burkina Faso. A semi-structured survey was carried out from April to August 2022 among patients. The glycaemia and glycated  hemoglobin levels in patients were evaluated respectively by enzymatic colorimetric and turbidimetric immunoassay methods. Fifty  diabetic subjects were enrolled. They were mainly illiterate and in 40 to 60 age group. The most pathologies were type II, with common  risk factors such as family history (64%) and hypertension (51.06%). The conventional treatment was dominant (68%), followed by the  combination of conventional and traditional medicine based on medicinal plants (30%). Sclerocarya birrea (38.46%) and Euphorbia hirta  (30.76%) were the most used species. A glycemic imbalance was noted in most of patients, and was significant in patients using a  combination of conventional and traditional medicine (P = 0.0134), followed by patients with traditional treatment only (P = 0.0247).  Almost all of glycemic balances were not significantly influenced by medicinal practices. This study highlighted various therapies used  among diabetic patients attending the clinical laboratory of Centre MURAZ.