The use of herbal medicines among chronic disease patients in Thailand: a cross-sectional survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Sample characteristics

Variable	Sample	Herbal medicine use in the past 12 months		P-value
	All	Yes	No
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
All	1374	489 (35.9)	885 (64.4)
Age (in years)
18–45	167 (12.2)	53 (31.7)	114 (68.3)	0.493
46–60	555 (40.6)	204 (36.8)	351 (63.2)
61–101	646 (47.2)	231 (35.8)	415 (64.2)
Gender
Female	829 (60.8)	276 (33.3)	553 (66.7)	0.033
Male	534 (39.2)	208 (39.0)	326 (61.0)
Education
<Grade 6	844 (61.6)	280 (33.2)	564 (66.8)	0.018
Grade 6–12	308 (22.5)	130 (42.2)	178 (57.8)
Postsecondary	218 (15.9)	78 (35.8)	140 (64.2)
Marital status
Married	978 (71.6)	331 (33.8)	647 (66.2)	0.042
Never married	388 (28.4)	154 (39.7)	234 (60.3)
Residence
Rural	692 (50.4)	270 (39.0)	422 (61.0)	0.008
Urban	682 (49.6)	219 (32.1)	463 (67.9)
Religious affiliation
Buddhist	1297 (94.7)	452 (34.8)	845 (65.2)	0.009
Other religion	72 (5.3)	36 (50.0)	36 (50.0)
Anxiety	361 (26.6)	174 (48.2)	306 (30.8)	<0.001
Depression	275 (20.3)	110 (40.0)	375 (34.8)	0.108
Problem drinking	59 (4.3)	20 (33.9)	39 (66.1)	0.782
Quality of Life
Low	299 (21.9)	157 (52.5)	142 (47.5)	<0.001
Medium	399 (29.2)	122 (30.6)	277 (69.4)
High	667 (48.9)	207 (31.0)	460 (69.0)
Chronic diseases
One	419 (30.5)	103 (24.6)	316 (75.4)	<0.001
Two	415 (30.2)	147 (35.4)	268 (64.6)
Three or more	540 (39.3)	234 (43.4)	306 (56.6)
Chronic disease stigma	1002 (74.4)	368 (36.0)	654 (64.0)	0.581

Table 2 Associations with herbal medicine use by sociodemographic and well-being factors

Variable	AOR (95% CI)	P-value
Gender
Female	1 (Reference)
Male	1.27 (0.98, 1.61)	0.067
Education
<Grade 6	1 (Reference)
Grade 6–12	1.71 (1.04, 2.82)	0.036
Postsecondary	1.20 (0.93, 1.56)	0.163
Marital status
Married	1 (Reference)
Never married	1.28 (0.98, 1.66)	0.069
Residence
Rural	1 (Reference)
Urban	0.76 (0.60, 0.97)	0.026
Religious affiliation
Other religion	1 (Reference)
Buddhist	0.57 (0.35, 0.97)	0.039
Anxiety	1.64 (1.25, 2.16)	<0.001
Quality of Life
Low	1 (Reference)
Medium	0.47 (0.33, 0.66)	<0.001
High	0.42 (0.31, 0.56)	<0.001
Chronic diseases
One	1 (Reference)
Two	1.53 (1.11, 2.11)	0.0.10
Three or more	1.82 (1.30, 2.56)	<0.001

Abbreviation: AOR, Adjusted Odds Ratio.

Table 3 Associations with herbal medicine use by type of chronic disease

Chronic disease	Sample	Herbal medicine use	AOR (95% CI)	P-value
	N (%)	N (%)
Arthritis	66 (4.8)	47 (71.2)	5.51 (3.12, 9.73)	<0.001
Asthma	57 (4.2)	28 (49.1)	2.15 (1.24, 3.73)	0.006
Cancer	16 (1.2)	10 (62.5)	3.24 (1.13, 9.26)	0.028
Cardiac failure, Stroke, Coronary artery disease, Cardiac arrhythmias	177 (12.9)	80 (45.2)	1.06 (1.40, 2.76)	<0.001
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	31 (2.3)	14 (45.2)	1.58 (0.74, 3.36)	0.238
Diabetes mellitus	480 (34.9)	175 (36.5)	1.23 (0.95, 1.58)	0.110
Dyslipidaemia	408 (29.7)	158 (38.7)	1.31 (1.00, 1.70)	0.046
Epilepsy	8 (0.6)	1 (12.5)	0.23 (0.03, 2.07)	0.191
Gastrointestinal disease	40 (2.9)	29 (72.5)	4.82 (2.33, 10.01)	<0.001
Gout and other musculoskeletal conditions, such as chronic backache	206 (15.0)	86 (41.7)	1.39 (1.00, 1.93)	0.054
Hypertension	838 (61.0)	272 (32.5)	0.71 (0.55, 0.91)	0.007
Kidney disease	35 (2.5)	13 (37.1)	0.59 (0.27, 1.29)	0.185
Liver disease	21 (1.5)	11 (52.4)	1.88 (0.76, 4.68)	0.175
Mental disorder	26 (1.9)	7 (26.9)	0.71 (0.28, 1.84)	0.483
Migraine or frequent headaches	57 (4.1)	30 (52.6)	1.88 (1.07, 3.31)	0.027
Parkinson’s disease	29 (2.1)	8 (27.6)	0.79 (0.33, 1.86)	0.584
Thyroid disease	38 (2.8)	16 (42.1)	0.97 (0.47, 1.97)	0.923

Abbreviations: AOR, Adjusted Odds Ratio; CI, Confidence Interval.

Table 4 Details of herbal medicine used

Scientific name of herbal remedy	Local name of herbal remedy	Purpose of using it	Form^a	Usage^b	How obtained^c	N
Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f.	Aloe Vera, Star Cactus	Body pain	6, 2	1	2	2
Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Wall.ex Nees	Kariyat,The Creat, Far talai jone	Sore throat, diarrhea	1,2,4,5,6	1,3	1,2,4,7	9
Boesenbergia rotunda	Allium,Garlic, Fingerroot,	Lower cholesterol, osteoporosis	6, 3	1,3	8, 5	3
Caesalpinia sappan Linn.	Sappan tree, Kan Fang	Diabetes, health tonic, erectile dysfunction	6	3	2,4,7	2
Carissa carandas Linn.	Carandas-plum, Ma moung how – ma now ho	Treat symptoms	6	1	7	3
Carthamus tinctorius L.	Safflower, Dok kam foi	Hypertension	4	3	4	1
Centella asiatica (L.) Urb	Gotu kola, Bai bua boke	Headache	6	1	7	1
Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv.	Ya repair, Ya he-yum	Diabetes, wound	6	3	7	3
Cissus Quadrangularis Linn.	Ped sang kard	Constipation, hemorrhoid	2	1	4	2
Curcuma longa Linn	Turmeric, Ka-mint	Health tonic, digestive tonic, knee pain	1,2	1	4, 2	6
Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.	Van chak mod look	Pre-menopause symptom, leucorrhea	1,2,6	1,3	1,4,7	4
Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst	Lingzhi mushroom, Reishi mushroom	Improve brain function	2	1	4	1
Garcinia mangostana L.	Mangosteen peel	Health tonic, treat symptom	5	3	5	2
Garcinia gummi-gutta	Malabar tamarind, Brindle berry, Som kaek	Lower cholesterol	2	1	4	2
Houttuynia cordata Thunb.	Plu Kaow	Health tonic	6	1	7	1
Moringa oleifera Lam.	Moringa, Ma-room	Lower cholesterol	2,6	1	7, 2	2
Murdannia loriformis (Hassk.) R.S.Rao & Kammathy	Angel Grass, Ya tewada	Treatment	6	1	7	1
Orthosiphon aristatus Miq	Ya nuad maw	Kidney stone, gout	6	1,3	7, 2	3
Phyllanthus emblica Linn., Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn	Egg Woman, Makam pom	Low back pain, cough, Health tonic, gastritis	1,5,6	1,3	4,5,7	3
Senna alexandrina P. Miller	Alexandria senna, Makam Kaek	Constipation	1,4	1,3	1,2,4	3
Thunbergia laurifolia Linn.	Rang joed	Lower blood sugar, detoxification	2,4,6	3	1,4,7	3
Tiliacora triandra (Colebr.) Diels	Bai-ya-nang	Health tonic, Kidney detoxification,	6	1	7	2
Zingiber officinale	Ginger	Cold, Gastrointestinal problems	6	3	6	4
Unspecified herbs
Product not identified, mixed in a bottle/package	Mixed herb	Diabetes, health tonic, asthma, stroke, finger lock, hypertension, muscle pain, women’s health	1,2,4,5,6	1,3	1,2,4,5,6	28

Notes: ^aForm: Pills=1, capsules=2, tablets=3, powder=4, solution=5, crude herbs=6; ^bUsage: Swallow=1, Topical use=2, Make into a drink/food using hot water=3, Inhale=4, ^cHow obtained: Drug store=1, Folk remedy shop/stand=2, Health food store=3, Hospital=4, Direct sale=5, Provided by their family/friends=6, Own garden=7

Availability of data

The data used for this study cannot be made available in the manuscript or a public repository due to the ethical restriction. However, they can be accessed upon request from the Principal Investigator (Prof. Supa Pengpid) at [email protected].