The Relationship Between the History of Use of Medicinal Plants and Medication Adherence in the Elderly Patients With Chronic Diseases in Saveh (2020)

Objectives: Many patients use medicinal plants, assuming they are safe and without side effects. The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the use of medicinal plants and medication adherence in the elderly patients with chronic diseases. Methods and Materials : In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, 358 patients aged 60 years or over with chronic diseases in 2020 were included in the study by convenience sampling method. Data collection instrument was a three part questionnaire including demographic information, history of medicinal plants used and Medication Adherence Scale. The data were entered into SPSS 21 and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi-square, independent t-test and logistic regression. Results: The mean age of participants was 69.44±8.13 years and 52.23% of them were female. The majority of participants were married (87.68%) with under diploma education (71.64%).The overall mean of medication adherence in participants was 5.48 (in the range of poor adherence). The history of taking medicinal plants in the last 1 year with reporting the physician was 41.34% (N=148) and without reporting the physician was 27.3% (N=98). The mean of medication adherence in the participants who used medicinal plants (in both groups) was lower than the group who had no history of medicinal plants use (P=0.001). Also there was a statistically significant relationship between the number and frequency of medicinal plants used, and the duration of chronic disease with the medication adherence (P <0.05). Conclusion: Due to the high consumption of medicinal plants in the elderly patients and its relationship with poor medication adherence, it is necessary to educate the elderly patients about the correct use of medicinal plants, their side effects, medication-herbal interactions, the need to inform the doctor about use of medicinal plants and to observe the medication adherence.