Olisa Nwako S, Oyelola Fakeye T
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Int J Pharm Pract. 2009 Apr;17(2):101-5.
The aim was to evaluate use of herbal medicine among hypertensive patients.
The study was carried out at a secondary health care facility in Maiduguri, Nigeria, between April and June 2007. Pretested questionnaires were administered to 500 ambulatory hypertensive patients attending the hypertension clinic after giving consent. Demographic data of respondents, information on reasons for use, sources of herbal medicines, co-administration with allopathic agents, effects observed, steps taken when adverse effects were observed and reasons for discontinuation of herbal medicines were obtained. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi2 at a significance level of P < 0.05.
One hundred and twenty respondents were found to be using herbal medicines. Increased age was associated with increased use of herbal medicines (P < 0.05). Co-administration of herbal medicines with antihypertensive agents was done by 47.5% respondents, out of which herbs with antihypertensive activity were used by 33.33%. The majority of respondents, 71.15%, were using herbal medicines unbeknownst to their physicians. Clinically evident adverse effects due to co-administration of herbal medicines and allopathic agents were reported by 21.04% of the respondents. Side effects observed (3.79%), improvement in clinical conditions (3.03%), perceived inefficacy of the herbal medicine (1.52%) and instructions by the health care provider (21.15%) were reasons given for discontinuation of the herbal medicines. Reasons given for preferring herbal medicines were combinations of perceived failure of allopathic medicines (31.73%), relatively high cost of allopathic medicine (23.08%), socio-cultural practices/herbal knowledge (20.19%), poor accessibility to medical facilities (19.23%), safety concerns (9.62%) and uncaring attitudes of hospital staff when attending to respondents (6.73%).
Herbal medicines were often co-administered with allopathic agents by hypertensive patients, and health care givers need to be vigilant and include questions about use of herbal medicines when taking a patient's drug medication history.
旨在评估高血压患者使用草药的情况。
该研究于2007年4月至6月在尼日利亚迈杜古里的一家二级医疗保健机构开展。在获得同意后，对500名前往高血压门诊的非卧床高血压患者进行了预先测试的问卷调查。获取了受访者的人口统计学数据、使用原因信息、草药来源、与西药的联合使用情况、观察到的效果、出现不良反应时采取的措施以及停用草药的原因。使用描述性统计和卡方检验对数据进行分析，显著性水平为P < 0.05。
发现120名受访者在使用草药。年龄增长与草药使用增加相关（P < 0.05）。47.5%的受访者将草药与抗高血压药物联合使用，其中33.33%使用了具有抗高血压活性的草药。大多数受访者（71.15%）在未告知医生的情况下使用草药。21.04%的受访者报告了因草药与西药联合使用而出现的临床明显不良反应。观察到的副作用（3.79%）、临床状况改善（3.03%）、认为草药无效（1.52%）以及医疗保健提供者的指示（21.15%）是停用草药的原因。偏爱草药的原因包括认为西药治疗失败（31.73%）、西药成本相对较高（23.08%）、社会文化习俗/草药知识（20.19%）、医疗设施可及性差（19.23%）、安全担忧（9.62%）以及医院工作人员在照顾受访者时态度冷漠（6.73%）。
高血压患者常将草药与西药联合使用，医疗保健人员需要保持警惕，并在询问患者用药史时纳入有关草药使用的问题。
