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Attitudes towards Herbal Supplements: Results from the “Alternative Health/Complementary and Alternative Medicine” Survey
Author(s) -
Sykova Vladimira,
Kennedy Tay
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.2_supplement.791
Subject(s) - medicine , alternative medicine , herbal supplement , medical prescription , traditional medicine , family medicine , marital status , medicinal herbs , environmental health , population , nursing , pathology
In the last decade, an increased number of people are using herbs and herbal supplements to treat or prevent various health conditions. Research is available about what herbs people use and what health conditions herbs are used to treat but information is scarce about attitudes and beliefs surrounding herbal use. This study investigates differences in attitudes towards herbal supplements based on demographic and health characteristics extracted from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey supplement entitled “Alternative Health/Complementary and Alternative Medicine”. Only respondents who reported the use of herbs during the past one year and have used them to treat a specific health condition (n = 3315) were selected for this analysis. A positive attitude score was created based on five questions regarding the reasons for herbal use. These questions inquired about the usefulness and price of conventional medical treatments, usefulness of herbs combined with conventional medical treatments, recommendation of herbs by a medical professional, and respondents’ interest in taking herbs. Results suggest that the attitudes among herbal users vary by age (p = 0.008), marital and employment status (p = 0.019 and 0.000 respectively), use of prescription drugs (p = 0.000), and use of preventive/routine and acute medical services (p = 0.004 and 0.001 respectively).