The Journal of

Introduction: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease where immune system mistakenly assumes different elements of joints as exogenous and attacks it. Based on scientific findings, a wide range of complementary and alternative therapies (including herbal and food supplements) are useful for RA.

Methods: This Cross-sectional study was carried out on 120 patients suffered from RA whom were referred to public health centers of Yazd in 2014. Using a questionnaire, demographic characteristics and the type and rate of supplementation were evaluated in these patients.

Results: out of 120 patients, 118 individuals used at least one of the questioned supplements. Patients ranged from 19 to 76 years that 71.6 percent ≥ 40 years, 85% female, 92% married, 55% earned between 1 and 2 million Tomans per month and 51.7% had high school diploma or higher education.

The most prevalent consumed supplement was calcium-Vitamin D (90.7%) and Folic acid (%80.5), vitamin D (%73.7), and omega-3 (%55.9) came afterward. Interestingly, majority of patients (96.5%) were taking supplements under the supervision of rheumatologist.

Conclusion: Based on present data obtained in patients suffering from RA, most frequently used supplement was calcium-vitamin D. Most patients were satisfied of positive effects of these supplements.