Patterns of herbal use among patients attending family practice centers

Background: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is common in both developing and developed countries. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to identify the prevalence of herbal use among patients, factors associated with herb use, the most common herbs used, medical conditions for herb use and factors that might affect herbal use among patients. Methods: The study was carried out on 300 patients attending two primary health care centers at Fanara village, Ismailia, Egypt. Study population was allocated randomly using a systematic random sample. A structured questionnaire consisting of three sections was designed to fulfill the study objectives: personal and socio-demographic characteristics, background knowledge of herbal use and exploring the belief towards herbal therapy. Results: The prevalence of herbal medicine (HM) use was 76.7%. The most frequent herb used by participants was peppermint (32.6%), the most common indications of herbs were respiratory problems (47.3%) and the most common method of use was boiling. About 71% were of the opinion that herbs were beneficial for health and knowledge of herb usefulness was significantly related with all sociodemographic characteristics except for family size, income and smoking status. A statistically significant relationship existed between previous herbal use and old age particularly at the age of ≥50 (p<0.001), and ex-smokers were significantly related to herbal remedies (p=0.02). Employment status was significantly related to previous herbal use (88.1%) (p=0.004). Conclusion: Beliefs of safety of HM were significantly associated with education (high; p=0.03), job (employee; p=0.01), smoking (current smokers; p=0.01) and health insurance coverage (uncovered; p=0.02).