2023-06-17 17:47:41
Auteurs
Correspondence: A. Bicart-See
Almost everything is opposed today to allopathic medicine, alternative and complementary medicine. On the one hand, an increasingly advanced technicality, on the other a holistic approach to health. We were interested in the use of herbal medicine in our patients, although this area is almost never addressed during our consultations.
Four practitioners: an algologist, an addictologist, an infectiologist, an internist, as well as a botanist designed a questionnaire which was distributed for two months to patients consulting at the hospital.
Out of 442 questionnaires submitted, 336 might be analyzed. Seventy percent of patients used alternative and complementary medicine. Phytotherapy was the most cited, by 204 patients (i.e. 86% of alternative and complementary medicine). Phytotherapy concerned all patients. It was described in 90% of cases in algology where it might be prescribed, and in 50 to 70% of cases for other specialties. It was more often used by women and by executives. The prescriptions were made half by a therapist (regulated or not) and half by a family member. The plants mainly came from a pharmacy or an organic store. Eleven plants accounted for 60% of the citations. Plants were mainly used to relieve general or functional symptoms (fatigue, sleep, anxiety, digestion, colds, cough). The efficacy evaluated by the patients was 7/10. Safety of herbal medicine was good with 6% side effects; there were no serious side effects.
The use of herbal medicine, perceived as effective by most patients, is thus very frequent in the context of hospital consultation, which encourages it to be taken into account to improve overall care.
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