Does the use of herbal medicine affect adherence to medication-a cross sectional study of outpatients with chronic disease?

Introduction: The use of herbal medicine is common and is increasing globally but it is unknown whether this affects patients' use of western medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate whether herbal medicine (HM) use may effect medication adherence in Turkish patients with chronic disease attending internal medicine outpatient clinics. Methods: Patients prescribed medication by a medical doctor for longer than one year for a chronic disease and with any symptoms were identified from the register of patients attending a general internal medicine outpatient clinic. Medication adherence was measured using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) score. Patients were questioned about whether they had used any HMs. Results: Out of 912 patients examined, 516 patients (51.7% female patients, mean age 52.4) met the inclusion criteria. Use of the HMs was positively correlated with educational status and monthly income and negatively correlated with the MMAS score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that use of herbs and/or herbal products was significantly associated with the MMAS score (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.93, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Low medication adherence was found to be independently associated with the use of HMs in this study population. Medication non-adherence is an important public health problem for all departments of medicine. Hospitalizations, drug resistance and disease relapse in patients with chronic diseases could be prevented if medication adherence is achieved

Automated summary

This study found that the use of herbal medicine in Turkish patients with chronic diseases is negatively correlated with medication adherence, and positively correlated with educational status and monthly income. The use of herbal medicine may have an impact on patients' adherence to medication.