A Study of the Status of Use of Drug Plants and Its Related Factors in Qom City, Iran

Herbal medicine as a type of complementary medicine has long been used by different societies. The studies of the last two decades have indicated the growing use of drug plants in the world, sometimes without consulting a physician and with no knowledge about their side-effects. This study was done with the aim of determining the status of use of drug plants and its related factors in Qom city.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 372 people of Qom city in 2012, using convenience sampling. The data were collected through a questionnaire that its validity and reliability had been confirmed. The data were analyzed via frequency tables, chi 2, Mann-Whitney and Fisher’s tests. Significance level was considered p<0.05.

In this study, 35.48% and 11.55% of participants had used drug plants for treatment and prevention, respectively. The most cases of consumption belonged to abdominal pain (48.4%), cold (42.2%) and sore throat (35.8%), and the most used plants were mint (72.3%), Sisymbrium irio (65.1%) and cinnamon (62.9%). The most important reason of use of drug plants were fewer side-effects (51.1%) and better results (39.9%) compared to chemical medicine. Among studied variables, a statistically significant relationship was observed between gender and the amount of using drug plants (p=0.01).

Concerning the results of this study, the most reason of using drug plants was their fewer side-effects compared to chemical drugs. So, it is necessary to give accurate information, at the society level, about their side-effects and possible interactions.