Awareness of elderly patients on herbal products in Serbia

Abstract

Background: Although the use of medicinal plants have been known since ancient times, an increased use of herbal products is evident in the last few decades, mainly as a part of self-care treatments. In addition to the positive health effects, the use of herbal products can cause certain side effects as well as interactions with conventional therapy, especially among elderly patients. Purpose: To examine the awareness, habits and attitudes of elderly patients towards the use of herbal products in the Republic of Serbia. Method: The quantitative, non-experimental research was conducted using a questionnaire in public pharmacies during February 2020. Patients older than 60 years were included in the study. The study was anonymous, and patients gave informed consent. Results: The study involved 436 patients, of whom 62.4% were female. Most of the respondents live in the city (72.9%) and have a high school or lower education degree (61.9%). Most patients (32.3%) use herbal products daily, while only 12.1% rarely or never use them. Every fourth patient (24.5%) uses them for treatment, while 69.5% to improve their health. Although the majority of patients purchase herbal products in pharmacies and in health food stores (53.6% and 20.8%, respectively), a significant number (19.3%) collect medicinal plants and prepare herbal preparations themselves. The main sources of information about medicinal plants / herbal products are pharmacists (39.7%) and people from the immediate area (28.4%), followed by the media (18.2%) and physicians (11.1%). Every fourth patient (24.5%) uses herbal products for the treatment of some health issues, while 69.5% of patients use herbal products to improve their health. 48.9% of them believe that herbal products are safe, but with some side effects, while 35.8% believe herbal products are completely free of any side effects. Half of respondents (51.4%) believe that herbal products are as effective as or more effective than synthetic medicines. Less than one-third of patients (29.8%) indicated that they knew the difference between herbal medicinal products and herbal dietary supplements. Still, a third of patients (36.7%) needed additional explanations for the use of herbal products. 76.6% of patients stated that they always receive advice from a pharmacist when purchasing herbal products. Conclusion: The survey conducted in this work showed that elderly patients use herbal products to a considerable extent, which means that it is necessary to educate elderly patients on this matter. Pharmacists should play a vital role in this process and actively discuss the characteristics and proper use of herbal products with patients, especially having in mind the high possibility of interactions with conventional medicines and occurrence of side effects. Since the quality of some herbal products sometimes could be questionable, especially non-regulated ones, patients should be encouraged to purchase them from pharmacies and consult with pharmacists.