Search

The prevalence of use of traditional and complementary medicine in the Saudi Arabia population has reached 75%. The most used therapies are religious healing, herbal medicine and cupping therapy. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is the Saudi national reference for all activities regarding complementary medicine. This article briefly highlights the current state of complementary medicine regulation in Saudi Arabia., (Copyright © 2019 Shanghai Changhai Hospital. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cupping therapy (Hijama in Arabic) is a popular traditional treatment especially in Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe. Traditionally, cupping therapy has been one of the most used practices in Saudi Arabia. Standardization of the practice of cupping therapy is a very important step to eliminate or reduce any adverse events related to cupping. This article gives a brief illustration and highlights the important points of the first accredited Saudi Arabian standards for the safe use of cupping equipment and its applications., (Copyright © 2018 Shanghai Changhai Hospital. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Diabetes mellitus represents a major burden in Saudi Arabia where seven million (20% of population) are living with diabetes. This article reviews the literature on usage of traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) therapies among Saudi diabetic patients, focusing in particular on identifying the prevalence as well as discussing their safety and efficacy. Three databases (PubMed, Cochrane, and ScienceDirect) were searched prior to December 10, 2017, for articles published in peer-reviewed journals that reported primary data on the use of traditional and complementary medicine therapies among diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia. Six studies were selected according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In conclusion, the prevalence of use of T&CM therapies among diabetics in Saudi Arabia was 32.18%. This review identified that the most used T&CM therapy among diabetics was herbal treatment. The most used herbs were fenugreek, black seeds, neem, myrrh, helteet, harmel, and aloes. There is insufficient or little evidence to support the efficacy of the most identified herbs and therapies. This review is raising the safety concerns about the used herbs and complementary therapies which were commonly used without any medical consultation.