Consumers of natural health products: natural-born pharmacovigilantes?
BACKGROUND
Natural health products (NHPs), such as herbal medicines and vitamins, are widely available over-the-counter and are often purchased by consumers without advice from a healthcare provider. This study examined how consumers respond when they believe they have experienced NHP-related adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in order to determine how to improve current safety monitoring strategies.


METHODS
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve consumers who had experienced a self-identified NHP-related ADR. Key emergent themes were identified and coded using content analysis techniques.


RESULTS
Consumers were generally not comfortable enough with their conventional health care providers to discuss their NHP-related ADRs. Consumers reported being more comfortable discussing NHP-related ADRs with personnel from health food stores, friends or family with whom they had developed trusted relationships. No one reported their suspected ADR to Health Canada and most did not know this was possible.


CONCLUSIONS
Consumers generally did not report their suspected NHP-related ADRs to healthcare providers or to Health Canada. Passive reporting systems for collecting information on NHP-related ADRs cannot be effective if consumers who experience NHP-related ADRs do not report their experiences. Healthcare providers, health food store personnel, manufacturers and other stakeholders also need to take responsibility for reporting ADRs in order to improve current pharmacovigilance of NHPs.
Walji
Rishma
R
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Boon
Heather
H
Barnes
Joanne
J
Austin
Zubin
Z
Welsh
Sandy
S
Baker
G Ross
GR
D000328:Adult; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D001688:Biological Products / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002170:Canada; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult
D001688:Biological Products; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs