Uninformed Complementary and Alternative Supplement Use: A Risky Behavior for Cardiovascular Patients

Abstract

Growing use of complementary and alternative supplements (CAS) is of concern because of the potential for herb-drug interaction among cardiovascular patients. Literary searches were conducted on PubMed to identify reports of extent and purpose of CAS use, disclosure of use by patients, physician knowledge, and possible drug-CAS interactions for cardiovascular patients. Additional published studies were located through the Web sites of various organizations. Further searches of case reports, case series, controlled trials, and laboratory evidence were performed for each of the top 10 CAS and their possible cardiovascular drug interactions. More research is needed to understand supplement-drug interactions, particularly in terms of how this potentially affects patients taking cardiovascular drugs. With this lack of research and clarity on supplement-dug interactions and the underreporting of CAS use by many patients, physician education is also in need of improvement.

The prevalence of herbal medicine home use and concomitant use with pharmaceutical medicines in Jamaica

“…The level of underreporting to physicians of concomitant herb-drug use in this latest survey (19.4%) is similar to that reported in a number of studies (Bristol et al, 2008): 28% of patients in one study (Cockayne et al, 2005) and 23% in another (Robinson and McGrail, 2004). Reasons cited for non-disclosure were expectation of a negative reaction from the doctor, the perception that there was no need to report such use and the fact that they were simply not asked (Robinson and McGrail, 2004).…”