The association between complementary and alternative medicine use with breast cancer recurrence in Taif city, Saudi Arabia

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Among all types of cancer, 11.7% of cases diagnosed in 2020 were BC. Compare this to Saudi Arabia, where 28.8 out of every 100,000 women were diagnosed with BC. Furthermore, BC patients are more likely than other cancer survivors to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Study aimed to investigate association between CAM use and BC recurrence rates in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 106 participants recruited from breast surgery clinics. Targeted women were diagnosed with BC and treated at Al Hada armed forces hospital. The data were collected by interviewing the patients using a validated questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of CAM usage among BC patients was 35.8%. The recurrence rate of BC was 26.4%. CAM users accounted for 28.57% of the total, while non-CAM users comprised 71.43%. In addition, 50% of recurrences were distant metastases, and 50% occurred more than two years after diagnosis.  Conclusions: In conclusion, more than one-third of BC patients in this region incorporate CAM into their treatment regimen. Our findings reveal a practical but not statistical significance of a lower recurrence rate of BC among CAM users compared to non-CAM. These results emphasize the importance of healthcare providers engaging in detailed discussions with BC patients regarding CAM usage in conjunction with planned medical and surgical therapies.