Effects of Herbal Medicine Use on Adherence to Conventional Anticancer Drugs

Background: Herbal medicines are often used in conjunction with traditional anticancer medications for cancer patients. This may lead to lower adherence to traditional anti-cancer medications, as well as unpredictable side effects and unknown drug-herb interactions. This could lead to poor clinical outcomes in the long run.

The aim of this study was to see how using herbal medicines affects adherence to conventional anti-cancer drugs, to figure out how many patients use both conventional and herbal anti-cancer drugs, and to identify the most popular herbal medicines used alongside conventional anti-cancer drugs by patients at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital's Oncology unit.

Methods and Results: In the oncology clinic of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda's Mbarara district, a cross-sectional study was performed. Data was collected from 122 participants who met the inclusion requirements and gave their consent between March 20th and April 20th, 2019. Our primary goal was to see whether cancer patients used natural remedies in addition to traditional anti-cancer medications, and our secondary goal was to see if they did.

Our research included 122 patients, the majority of whom were from the Banyankole tribe, with 75 (61.5%) of them being males. 40 (55.56 percent) of the 72 (59.02 percent) patients who used herbal medicine were males, and 66.67 percent of the herbal users reported relief. The most widely used herb was aloe vera. The majority of the patients (77.6%) had a high level of adherence, which was higher in non-herbal users than in herbal users (COR=1.62) but not statistically significant (p=0.399).

Conclusion: The majority of cancer patients are expected to use at least one herb over the course of their lives. There was no important connection between herbal medicine use and adherence to traditional anti-cancer medications, according to the findings. The large number of people who use herbal medicines necessitates further research into the topic in order to provide more knowledge that can help improve cancer care outcomes.

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