title: Herbal therapies used by hypertensive patients in Turkey.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine herbal therapies used by the patients for regulation of blood pressure. This descriptive study was conducted in three districts of Izmir, Turkey. The study group included 193 patients with hypertension diagnosis who admitted to a primary care center and accepted to participate in the study. Data were collected through an investigator-made questionnaire including questions about socio-demographic features and herbal therapies used for regulation of blood pressure. Percentiles and chi-square statistics tests were used to evaluate the data through SPSS 11.0 program. The subjects included in the study had suffered from hypertension for 8.28 ± 7.92 years, and 95.9% of them received medication to treat their hypertension. Of all hypertensive patients, 51.3% used herbal therapies for the treatment of hypertension. The patients used herbal therapies most commonly when they felt ill. There were no statistically significant difference between the use of herbal therapies and gender, education, marital status, having health insurance and income level. Health professionals who provide primary health services, especially nurses, need to follow patients regularly and provide patient education on antihypertensive therapy. Nurses must plan the necessary training programs by evaluating the data about, whether the hypertension patients use herbal therapies that can affect their health negatively or not.
authors.affiliation: University of Nursing Faculty, Public Health Nursing Department, Inciralti, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zuhal
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bahar
authors.forename: Sevgi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kızılcı
authors.forename: Ayşe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beşer
authors.forename: Dilek Büyükkaya
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Besen
authors.forename: Nihal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gördes
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ersin
authors.forename: Aygul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kissal
authors.forename: Cantürk
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Çapık
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Herbalism; Hypertension; Nursing Care; Therapies