Evaluation of herbal product/dietary supplement use in patients applying to the endocrinology clinic in a tertiary health institution in Trabzon: A descriptive survey

The use of herbal products/dietary supplement is increasing day by day in chronic diseases including endocrine diseases such as diabetes mellitus, thyroid cancer, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. A study evaluating the use of herbal products/dietary supplement in a holistic manner in patients applying to the endocrinology and metabolic diseases clinic has not been found in the literature. This descriptive study aims to investigate the rate of herbal product/dietary supplement use and the factors affecting the use in patients who applied to Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Farabi Hospital Endocrinology and Metabolism Diseases clinic between 01.11.2021 and 01.05.2022. As a result of the study, 506 questionnaires suitable for data quality were included in the study. SPSS 23.0 statistical package program was used for the analysis of the data. It was determined that 49.4% of the participants used herbal products/dietary supplement. It was found that the main factors affecting the use of herbal products are age, diagnosis of the disease and treatment compliance problem. It was showed that the most used products were lemon, cinnamon, black cumin, ginger, turmeric and dill, respectively. The sources from which the participants get the most information about herbal products/dietary supplements are friends/relatives, internet/social media and television, respectively. The places where herbal products/dietary supplements are most frequently obtained are herbalist, market and direct collection from nature, respectively. 74.8% of the participants who use herbal products do not inform their doctor/pharmacist that they use these products. 81.8% of the participants, who did not inform their doctor/pharmacist about using herbal products/dietary supplements, request information from these occupational groups about the products. As a result, in order to protect and improve public health, herbal product monitoring in endocrine system patients should be carried out in cooperation with pharmacists specialized in the field of phytopharmacy, the use of herbal products should be questioned and counseling services should be provided to patients.