Natural Products Institute, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.
Complement Ther Med. 2010 Feb;18(1):13-20. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2010.01.002. Epub 2010 Feb 7.
Due to the global rise in the popularity of herbal medicines, adversities resulting from concomitant use of both prescription drugs and herbs are becoming an increasingly important public health issue.
To estimate the prevalence of the use of herbal medicines among persons on prescription medicines in Jamaica. Findings are thought to aid in estimates of the risk of adversities from drug-herb interactions through laboratory investigations and to provide awareness among policy makers responsible for the design of appropriate pharmacovigilance systems in the country.
A survey was conducted in eighteen pharmacies throughout Jamaica and patients or parents/carers of children who were on at least one prescription medicine were administered a structured questionnaire by trained interviewers.
Of 399 persons invited to participate in the study 365 (91.5% response rate) agreed to do so and were included in the study. This study population consisted of 306 adults and 60 children and of that 243 adults (80.6%) and 45 children (75.6%) engaged in the concomitant use of herbs and drugs. Patients with a variety of disease conditions, in both rural and urban environs engaged in concomitant herb-drug use. Persons with higher salary (P<0.1) and those with health insurance (P<0.02) tended to have a lower prevalence of herb-drug concomitant use. Among persons indicating such practices the most commonly cited reason for concurrent use of prescription medicine and herbal preparations was the belief that there was no harm in taking both (269, 94.0%) followed by the belief that the prescription medicine alone was not adequate cure (211, 71%). Only 55 (18%) respondents who practised such co-medication indicated that their doctors knew of their use of herbal preparations.
There is a high prevalence of herb-drug concomitant use in Jamaica, and an awareness within the medical community and those monitoring adversities would serve well to mitigate risks from potential drug-herb interactions.
由于草药在全球范围内的普及，同时使用处方药和草药所带来的不良反应正成为一个日益重要的公共卫生问题。
估计牙买加服用处方药物人群中使用草药的流行率。研究结果有助于通过实验室调查估计药物-草药相互作用引起不良反应的风险，并提高负责设计该国适当药物警戒系统的政策制定者的认识。
在牙买加的 18 家药店进行了一项调查，由经过培训的访谈者向至少服用一种处方药的患者或儿童的父母/监护人发放了一份结构化问卷。
在受邀参加研究的 399 人中，有 365 人（91.5%的应答率）同意参加研究并被纳入研究。该研究人群包括 306 名成年人和 60 名儿童，其中 243 名成年人（80.6%）和 45 名儿童（75.6%）同时使用草药和药物。患有各种疾病的患者，无论是在农村还是城市环境中，都同时使用草药和药物。工资较高的人（P<0.1）和有医疗保险的人（P<0.02）使用草药和药物的可能性较低。表示有这种做法的人中，最常提到同时服用处方药和草药制剂的原因是认为同时服用两者没有危害（269 人，94.0%），其次是认为仅服用处方药无法治愈疾病（211 人，71.0%）。只有 55 名（18%）同时服用这些药物的受访者表示他们的医生知道他们使用草药制剂。
牙买加同时使用草药和药物的情况很普遍，医疗界和监测不良反应的人员提高认识将有助于降低潜在药物-草药相互作用引起不良反应的风险。
