To tell or not to tell-Exploring disclosure about medicine use by people living with sleep disorders

Objective: To explore the difference in rates and reasons for disclosure of either conventional or comple-mentary medicine (CM) to healthcare practitioners between people living with sleep disorders (SDs) and those without SDs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey (N = 2019 adults) that measured sociodemographic characteristics, health status, health service utilisation, health literacy and health communication (medicine disclosure) of a representative sample of Australians was conducted. Data from participants reporting an SD (n = 265) were compared to those not reporting an SD to assess measures of health communication and disclosure about medicine use. Results: Overall, rates of medicine disclosure to both conventional and CM practitioners were high, in respondents with (70%) and without an SD (57%). Those reporting an SD had higher expectations of their conventional health practitioner's knowledge of CM, associated clinical decision-making skills, and approval of CM use, and held a higher degree of concern about drug interactions (P < 0.05). The main rea-sons cited for disclosing CM use to conventional health practitioners and conventional medicine use to CM practitioners were I want them to fully understand my health status and I was concerned about drug interactions with the CMs used. Conclusion: The high rate of medicine use disclosure by people with SDs is driven by an intention to inform their healthcare practitioner about their health status and concerns about potential medicine interactions. Therefore, research about the expectations that people with an SD have of their conventional healthcare practitioners' knowledge of CM and CM-drug interactions requires further examination. Likewise, further examination of CM practitioner's conventional medicine knowledge is encouraged. Please cite this article as: Malhotra V, Harnett J, McIntyre E, Steel A, Wong K, Saini B. To tell or not to tell-Exploring disclosure about medicine use by people living with sleep disorders. J Integr Med. 2022; 20(4): 338-347. (c) 2022 Shanghai Yueyang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study explores the differences in disclosure rates and reasons for disclosing either conventional or complementary medicine use to healthcare practitioners between individuals with sleep disorders and those without. The results indicate that individuals with sleep disorders are more likely to disclose their use of complementary medicine and have concerns about drug interactions. This suggests the need for further research on the expectations of individuals with sleep disorders regarding healthcare practitioners' knowledge of complementary medicine and drug interactions, as well as the knowledge of complementary medicine practitioners regarding conventional medicine.