HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Please note: All posters will be displayed in
Salons 10-12.
THURSDAY, 10:15-11:00 AM
Bardia A, Nisly N, Zimmerman BM, Gryzlak B , Wallace
RB.
Do US adults consume herbal supplements based on their
scientific merit?: results from the 2002 national health interview survey.
University of Iowa aditya-bardia@uiowa.edu,
adityabardia@gmail.com
BACKGROUND: Since the early 1990s, the use of
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including herbal supplements,
has increased substantially. However, it is not clear whether people
use individual herbal supplements based on scientific evidence.
METHODS: We utilized data gathered from the
Alternative Health supplement of the 2002 National Health Interview
Survey (NHIS), an annual cross-sectional, nationally representative
sample of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United
States. We considered those taking one of the ten most common herbal
supplements in past 12 months to treat a specific health condition (rather
than health promotion). We utilized the Natural Standard database resource
to formulate the scientific indications of the selected herbal supplements.
We excluded consumers taking more than one supplement, and those who
consumed supplements having no established scientific indication (Ragweed,
Peppermint,) or with scientific indication not listed in the survey
(Ginkgo, Ginger).
RESULTS: Out of the total sample population
of 30,617 18.95 % (N-5787) had used herbal supplements within past 12
months and out of these, 56.15% (N-3375) used them to treat a specific
health condition. 68 % of the consumers used Echinacea based on its
scientific indication and approximately one third of the respondents
used other herbs (Garlic, St. John's wort, soy, and kava-kava) consonant
with scientific data. Women (OR: 1.81, 95% CI -1.23, 2.67), persons
50 years and older (OR: 2.08, CI -1.2, 3.57), whites (OR: 1.96, CI -1.45,2.63)
and those with and those with college and graduate educations (OR: 2.91
1.13, 7.45) were all significantly more likely than to use herbal supplements
(other than Echinacea) based on their scientific merit. For Echinacea,
we failed to see a consistent pattern.
CONCLUSIONS: While the majority of people use
Echinacea for its scientific indication, only one third of the people
use the other less commonly utilized herbal supplements based on their
scientific merit. Public Health policies should be directed towards
dissemination of the evidence-based knowledge about the scientific and
evidence use of herbal supplements.
Back