[Consumption of medicinal herbs in patients attending a gastroenterology outpatient clinic]

The consumption of medicinal herbs is one of the most important topics in alternative and complementary medicine. The widespread use of these substances among the general population gives rise to the possibility of therapeutic or toxic effects in patients seeking conventional medical assistance. To determine the frequency of medicinal herb use, the species consumed and the profile of medicinal herb consumers among patients with gastrointestinal disorders, patients attending the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of the Francesc de Borja district hospital (Gandía, Spain) over a 5-month period were interviewed and 539 valid questionnaires were obtained. A total of 34.7% of the interviewees had taken medicinal herbs at some time and 26.9% had used them in the last year. Self-prescription was reported by 67.1%. Medicinal herbs were mainly obtained in the pharmacy or herbalist's (74.7%). The results of medicinal herb therapy were considered good or excellent by 80.3% of the interviewees, average by 18.6% and poor by 1.1%. In the univariate analysis, medicinal herb consumption was positively associated with female sex (p < 0.001), a university education (p < 0.05), consumption of psychotropic drugs (p < 0.005), use of trencar l'enfit (TE, a common practice of magic medicine in Valencia) (p < 0.001), functional gastrointestinal disorders (p < 0.005) and a diagnosis of lower gastrointestinal disorder (p < 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, the variables that remained statistically significant were female sex (p < 0.005), university education (p < 0.01), use of TE and a diagnosis of lower gastrointestinal disorder. Fifty-seven botanical varieties were used. The most frequent varieties were Santolina chamaecyparissus (18.8%), Tilia platyphyllos (6.5%), Thymus vulgaris (6%), Equisetum ramosissimum (4.7%), Mentha pulegium (4.4%) and Valeriana officinalis (4.4%). The results show that consumption of medicinal herbs is frequent among patients attending the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of a district hospital. The probable profile of those showing maximum consumption is: female sex, university education, lower gastrointestinal disorder, functional gastrointestinal disorder, psychotropic drug consumption and use of TE.