Prevalence and Perception of Herbal Medicine Use among Patients with Chronic Diseases in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Background: Man's quest to manage illness over many years has led to the development of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). There are many types of CAM, and the most utilized is herbal medicine. The relevance of herbal medicine has increased over the years due to the surge in health demands and other factors that influence the management of diseases. Hence, this study was conducted to ascertain the frequency and pattern of herbal medicine use among patients diagnosed with chronic diseases in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, its predictors, magnitude, and perception.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among adult patients (n = 319) diagnosed with various chronic diseases, such as Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, Glaucoma, cancer, etc., from October 2022 to November 2022, at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered through face-to-face interviews with patients.

Results: A total of 319 patients were included in this study. The gender distribution is 139 males and 180 females. The rate of herbal medicine use was 65.2%. Herbal medicine use among the female gender was higher, but there was no relationship between gender and herbal medicine use (P = 0.842). Of participants using herbal medicine, 46.1% used it for treating their health condition, 30.4% used herbal medicine to improve well-being, and 10.3% for preventing diseases. Their perception of herbal medicine uses as compared to conventional synthetic medicine based on modifications of some issues found from literature reviews that militate against the use of herbal medicine such as dose (15% strongly agreed, 20.1% agreed, 23.2% neutral, 18.8% disagreed and 22.9% strongly disagreed) etc.

Short Conclusion: The study discovered that patients in Nigeria with chronic conditions frequently use herbal medicines. Age, gender, marital status, occupation, education, monthly income, religion, health insurance, the timing of sickness diagnosis, the number of medications prescribed, and multiple chronic conditions were all linked to the usage of herbal medicines.