Herbal Use and Medical Pluralism Among Latinos in Southern California

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is often used alongside conventional medical care, yet few patients disclose CAM use to medical doctors. Our objectives were to (1) assess Latino herbal use, (2) explore the most commonly used herbs for common ailments, and (3) examine patients' disclosure of herb use to their physicians. Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 318 Latino patients seeking treatment at community health centers. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to determine the frequency of stated objectives among the participants. Fisher's exact test was used to compare differences among CAM users and non-users. Most respondents (90%) reported using herbs. Less than a third (31%) of those herb users felt comfortable speaking English to their physician. A majority (74.8%) of the respondents utilizing herbs reported never disclosing their herbal use to their healthcare providers, and of those that did, majority (63%) were under the age of 36 years. Of those that disclosed their herbal use, only 31% perceived receiving a positive reaction about herbal use from their providers. Chamomile, cinnamon, Aloe vera, spearmint, and key lime were the top used herbs in this population. Herbal use disclosure reflects a greater sense of trust and communication between patient and provider. Therefore, a need exists to increase provider competency for patients using herbs in order to improve consistency of care and facilitate healthy patients and communities, especially among Spanish-speaking Latinos in Southern California.