title: Effect of herbal medicine use on medication adherence of cardiology patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Herbal drug use for cardiovascular disease is frequent and growing rapidly. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of herbal medicine use on medication adherence of cardiology patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients admitted to the outpatient cardiology clinics, who had been prescribed at least one cardiovascular drug before, were asked to complete a questionnaire. Participants were asked if they have used any herbals during the past 12 months with an expectation of beneficial effect on health. Medication adherence was measured by using the Morisky Scale. High adherence was defined as a Morisky score <2 and a score ≥ 2 was accepted as low adherence in our study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Totally 390 patients (54.9% male and 45.1% female patients, mean age 58.9) participated in our study. 29.7% of them had consumed herbals in the past 12 months. The median Morisky score was significantly higher in herbal users than nonusers (p<0.001). Rate of low adherence, according to the Morisky Scale, was also higher in herbal users (61.2% vs. 29.9%, p<0.001). Number of herbals used was moderately correlated with the Morisky score (ρ=0.313, p<0.001). In stepwise, multivariate logistic regression analysis, herbal use was significantly associated with low medication adherence (OR: 3.76, 95% CI 2.36-6.09, p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Herbal use was found to be independently associated with low medication adherence in our study population. Further studies are needed to elucidate the effect of herbal medicine use on medication adherence of cardiology patients.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: drskad@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sadık Kadri
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Açıkgöz
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Eser
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Açıkgöz
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Cihanbeyli State Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Salih
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Topal
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Isparta State Hospital, Isparta, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hızır
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okuyan
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Belma
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yaman
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Okan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Er
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Barış
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sensoy
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa Mücahit
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Balcı
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sinan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aydoğdu
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Complementary therapies; Herbal drugs; Medication adherence