Abstract
Background
Recent research points to high levels of herbal medicine use during pregnancy. The
objectives of this study were to elucidate the prevalence and understand the determinants
of both the use and self-prescription of herbal medicine during pregnancy.
Methods
The study sample was obtained via the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
Women who were pregnant or who had recently given were invited to complete a subsurvey
in 2010 about pregnancy, and complementary and alternative medicine use.
Findings
A response rate of 79.2% (n = 1,835) was attained and 34.4% (n = 588 of 1,835) of the sample were utilizing herbal medicine during pregnancy, of
which 77.9% (n = 458 of 588) were self-prescribing these products. The women in our study (aged
33–38) were more likely to use herbal medicine if they had anxiety (odds ratio [OR], 1.30;
95% CI, 1.02–1.64; p = .031), sleeping problems (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.15–2.11; p = .005), or fatigue (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.04–1.68; p = .025), but less likely to use herbal medicine if they had nausea (OR, 0.71; 95%
CI, 0.56–0.91; p = .007). Women were more likely to self-prescribe herbal medicine if they suffered
from varicose veins (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.04–5.84; p = .041) and less likely to self-prescribe herbal medicine if they suffered from preeclampsia
(OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.81–0.63; p = .005). Women who self-prescribed herbal medicine during pregnancy were also more
likely to live in a rural environment (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.32–3.73; p = .003).
Conclusions
Many Australian women are consuming herbal medicine during pregnancy. The self-prescription
of herbal medicine by pregnant women is of particular concern owing to potential safety
issues, and it is important that maternity health care providers have an open and
nonjudgmental conversation with women about herbal medicine use during pregnancy.
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Biography
Jane Frawley, MClinSc, is a doctoral candidate whose research interests include women's health, pregnancy care, complementary medicine, health care decisions, and attitudes toward health care.
Biography
Jon Adams, PhD, is Professor of Public Health. His research interests include complementary medicine, integrative medicine, and the sociology of health and illness.
Biography
Amie Steel, PhD, has research interests in pregnancy care and complementary medicine.
Biography
Alex Broom, PhD, has research interests that include sociology of health and illness, focusing on cancer, palliative care and complementary medicine.
Biography
Cindy Gallois, PhD, has research interests that include health communication, intercultural communication, intergroup communication, and health care quality and safety.
Biography
David Sibbritt, PhD, has research interests that include complementary and alternative medicine, and integrative medicine.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 30, 2015
Accepted:
March 3,
2015
Received in revised form:
January 13,
2015
Received:
March 21,
2014
Footnotes
Funding sources: This project was funded by the Australian Research Council via their Discovery Project Funding (DP1094765). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
