A prospective study on the safety of herbal medicines, used alone or with conventional medicines

Along with increase of herbal medicine use worldwide, the safety of traditional herbal medicines frequently becomes a medical issue. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of herbal medicine-induced adverse effects on liver functions. A prospective study was performed with 313 inpatients (87...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnopharmacology 2012-10, Vol.143 (3), p.884-888
Main Authors: Jeong, Tae-Young, Park, Bong-Ki, Cho, Jung-Hyo, Kim, Young-Il, Ahn, Yo-Chan, Son, Chang-Gue
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adverse drug reaction
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury - etiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Drug Interactions
Drug-induced liver injury
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
Female
Herbal medicine
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pharmaceutical Preparations - administration & dosage
Phytotherapy - adverse effects
Plants, Medicinal - adverse effects
Prospective Studies
Safety
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Along with increase of herbal medicine use worldwide, the safety of traditional herbal medicines frequently becomes a medical issue. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of herbal medicine-induced adverse effects on liver functions. A prospective study was performed with 313 inpatients (87 male and 226 female) receiving herbal prescriptions during hospitalization. The patients were classified into two groups based on their treatments: one group received herbal medicines only (57 patients), and another received herbal and conventional medicines concurrently (256 patients). All patients were given liver and renal function tests at the start of hospitalization (baseline) and at approximately 2-week intervals thereafter, until discharge. Six of the 313 patients showed abnormal liver function without related clinical symptoms (1.9%, 95% CI 0.38–3.41); none of the patients in the herbal group had abnormal result in liver function tests (0% of 57 patients) while all six had received a combination of herbal and conventional medicines (2.3% of 256 patients, 95% CI 0.46–4.14). Our findings indicate that herbal drugs used alone are relatively safe, but the risk for adverse reactions may increase when herbal and conventional drugs are taken concurrently. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0378-8741
1872-7573
DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2012.08.016