Evaluation of nutritional supplements prescribed, its associated cost and patients knowledge, attitude and practice towards nutraceuticals: A hospital based cross-sectional study in Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.

Bibliographic Details
Title: Evaluation of nutritional supplements prescribed, its associated cost and patients knowledge, attitude and practice towards nutraceuticals: A hospital based cross-sectional study in Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.
Authors: Rabi Shrestha, Sweta Shrestha, Badri K C, Sunil Shrestha
Source: PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 6, p e0252538 (2021)
Publisher Information: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.
Publication Year: 2021
Collection: LCC:Medicine
LCC:Science
Subject Terms: Medicine, Science
More Details: BackgroundThere is substantial increment in nutraceutical consumption in Nepal, although the data on its efficacy and safety is scarce. The practices of nutraceutical supplements users in Nepal remain undocumented. Therefore, this study was conducted to study the prescription pattern, cost, knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of the patient towards nutraceutical.MethodsDescriptive cross-sectional study with stratified purposive sampling (n = 400) (patients from the out-patient departments of Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital, Kavre, Nepal) was performed using a validated structured questionnaire assessing the socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, practice of nutraceutical and total cost patients spent on nutraceutical alone. Pearson Chi-square test (x2) was used to investigate the association between socio-demographic variables and patients' KAP (knowledge, attitude and practice) towards nutraceutical. One way ANOVA was performed to compare the cost of nutraceutical among the different outpatient departments.ResultsMore than 80% of patients were found to be consuming nutraceutical on their own. The mostly prescribed nutraceutical were vitamins (40.7%), minerals (23.7%), enzymes (21.1%), proteins (8.8%), probiotics (4.2%) and herbals (2.0%). With the most common reasons for consuming nutraceutical were to maintain good health (70.0%) and healthcare professionals (57.85%) were the most approached source of information for nutraceutical. Nearly half of the patients (46.5%) had an inadequate level of knowledge whereas more than two-third (71.5%) showed a moderate positive attitude towards nutraceutical use. The average amount patients spent was NRs.575.78 [equivalent to USD 4.85] per prescription on nutraceutical alone. The maximum cost amounted to NRs 757.18 [equivalent to USD 6.43] in Orthopedics, and the minimum cost was NRs 399.03 [equivalent to USD 3.36] in Obstetrics and gynecology, respectively. There was a significant difference (p ConclusionThe higher prevalence of inadequate knowledge despite moderate positive attitude towards nutraceutical among patients regarding some significant issues such as safety and interactions of nutraceutical consumption and its' substitution for meals reflects the need to develop an educational strategy to increase general public awareness on the rational use of nutraceutical.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1932-6203
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252538
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/d76a2cf12150405bb92f9e506fd50300
Accession Number: edsdoj.76a2cf12150405bb92f9e506fd50300
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:19326203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0252538
Published in:PLoS ONE
Language:English