Use of traditional and complementary medicine products and related factors in patients with type 2 diabetes

Objective: Diabetic patients widely use herbal products as a product of traditional and complementary medicine. This study was conducted to determine the use of traditional and complementary medicine products in type 2 diabetes patients and the factors associated with them. Materials and Methods: In the cross-sectional and descriptive study, a questionnaire was applied to diabetic patients with face-to-face interview technique. Results: The mean age of the 280 patients included in the study was 58.18 ±9.4 years, and 63.9% were female. It was found that 30.4% of the patients used herbal products in the last 1 year. There was no significant relationship between age, gender, marital status, income level, diet, exercise/sports characteristics and herbal product use. The rate of herbal product use of individuals with high school and university education levels (% 47,4) was significantly higher than individuals under high school(%27,7) (p=0,014). There was no significant relationship between diabetes diagnosis time, insulin use, HbA1c level and herbal product use. The rate of herbal product use in patients with nephropathy was statistically lower than in patients without nephropathy (p=0.045). It was found that 58.8% of the patients used herbal products to regulate blood sugar, 17.6% to lose weight, 14.1% to reduce blood fats (cholesterol), 9.4% to lower blood pressure. Olive leaf, cinnamon and black cumin to regulate blood sugar, walnut juice and lemon to reduce blood fats, garlic and lemon to lower blood pressure, lemon and green tea to lose weight were the most used products. It was found that two patients stopped using drugs during the use of herbal products, and 6 patients reduced the frequency of drug use. It was determined that the product information was mostly learned from relatives/friends and 74.1% of the patients did not tell their doctor that they used the product. Conclusion: It has been determined that about one-third of the patients use herbal products and the vast majority do not tell their doctor. It is important for doctors to question and inform diabetic patients about the use of herbal products. Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Herbal product