A Preliminary Report on Herbal Medicine Use Among Patients Hospitalized at Two-Large COVID-19 Treatment Centers in Uganda.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy
; 14: 4609-4617, 2021.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34803412
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Herbal medication use among patients with COVID-19 imposes a significant risk of drug-herbal interactions and adverse events. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with herbal medicine use among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 attending two large COVID-19 Treatment Units (CTU) in Uganda.METHODS:
A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted recruiting patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at the Mulago National Referral Hospital and Namboole Stadium CTUs. Chi-square or Fishers' exact test for categorical and Mann-Whitney U-test for numerical were used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables.RESULTS:
The study was terminated early because of significant reduction in the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and the closure of Namboole CTU. Of the anticipated 422 participants, we recruited 108 (25.6%). Of this, 58 (53.7%) were female, with a median age of 38 (range 20-75) years. Forty-nine (45.4%) had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Fifty-eight (57.3%) of the participants had ever used herbal medicine and the majority had used them in the past 12 months (71.9%, n = 41) either before the diagnosis of COVID-19 (85.4%, n = 35) or after (36.6%, n = 15). Being vaccinated for COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-6.8, p = 0.005) and having attained tertiary level of education (aOR 6.2, 95% CI 1.7-23.1, p = 0.006), as well as the accessibility to herbalists (aOR 31.2, 95% CI 3.7-263.2, p = 0.002) were significantly associated with herbal medication use. The majority of participants reported some improvement after using herbal medicine (80.7%, n = 46) and their doctors or nurses asked almost half of the participants about herbal medicine use (49.5%, n = 53).CONCLUSION:
The use of herbal medicines to treat or prevent COVID-19 among hospitalized patients is a widespread practice in Uganda amidst unpublished evidence of their safety and efficacy.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article