Content analysis of complementary and alternative medicine literature in the Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society

ABSTRACT

Background@#Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a popular treatment option among patients. There is a need to assess the content of published local literature on complementary and alternative medicine in dermatology in the Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society (JPDS) to provide evidence for its integration into clinical practice and to guide future research.@*Objective@#To analyze the content of published literature on complementary and alternative medicine published in the JPDS@*Method@#We screened the titles and abstracts of all published articles in the JPDS from 1992-2017 and included articles on any aspect of complementary and alternative medicine. We extracted relevant characteristics such as study design, disease, type and details of CAM therapies, from the included articles. We summarized data using descriptive statistics for continuous data, and frequency distribution for ordinal data.@*Results@#CAM articles accounted for 4% of all published articles in the JPDS over the past 25 years of its existence. Most were RCTs (22%) (mean size=69), with the greatest number being on herbal medicine (66%), and for the treatment of infections, infestations and bites (46%). Majority of articles were primarily authored by resident trainees (87%) and the most common institutional affiliation was UP-PGH (24%). Among the herbal articles, the most common herb family was Fabaceae (9%), while coconut had the highest number of articles. Leaves were the most common plant part used (40%), and creams were the predominant type of formulation (29%). Other CAM interventions included were animal products, dietary supplements, and lifestyle modification.@*Conclusion@#The poor representation of CAM in the JPDS may reflect the lack of integration of this field in the local practice of dermatology. There is a need to increase awareness and gather more evidence on the application of CAM in the maintenance of healthy skin as well as prevention and treatment of skin diseases.