A survey on the usage of dietary supplements amongst the cardiac patients in Serdang Hospital / Mas Eliana Mahazir

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the developed and developing countries including Malaysia. Hypercholesterolemia is one of the known variable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and its treatment is crucial in preventing CVD. Many studies showed that lowering cholesterol in people at high risk of cardiovascular events significantly reduced the risk of overall mortality and morbidity. Dietary supplements may be useful in certain patients with lipid disorders. Thus, this research was to examine the prevalence and understand the use of dietary supplements among the cardiac patients in Serdang Hospital and more specifically to identify factors which predicted the likelihood of using dietary supplements. A cross sectional survey was done from October 2014 to November 2014 in Cardiology Clinic in Serdang Hospital with 373 patients (305 males and 68 females). Thirty-Eight per cent of the cardiovascular patients reported taking a dietary supplement in the past 12 months: 30.1% took Fish Oil, 17.5% took Multivitamins and 19.6% took Royal Jelly and more than 5% respondents consumed Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin C, Calcium and Barley Bran. In multivariate analysis, smoking status, education level and household income were associated of greater use of any supplements. However, there were no association showed between dietary supplement intake and patient's lipid profile. This research had thrown up many questions in need of further investigation. Further works need to be done with larger populations to establish whether dietary supplement intake have beneficial effects to reduce cardiovascular risk factors specifically in serum cholesterol level.