Trend and pattern of using herbal medicines among people who are aware of their diabetes mellitus: results from National STEPs Surveys in 2005 to 2011 in Iran

Use of traditional herbal medicines especially by those affected by chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus is important. The objective of this study was to assess trend and Pattern of using traditional herbal medicines by diabetic population in Iran. The results of this study are extracted from the National Stepwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance (STEPs), conducted in 2005- 2016 in Iran. A total of 3095 Iranian diabetic individuals, aged more than 25 years in 2005, 1470 diabetics in 2006, 1633 diabetics in 2007, 1652 diabetics in 2008, 1563 diabetics in 2009, and 1005 diabetics in 2011 were included in this study. We couldn’t use data in 2016 because in 2016, traditional herbal use has not been questioned. First, a descriptive analysis of the study variables and prevalence of herbal use for each year, was performed. Thereafter, to determine which variables were independent predictors of adherence to herbal use, we performed multivariate logistic regression. Using traditional herbal medicines among Iranian adult population was increased from 11.1 (9.98–12.20) in 2005 to 23.5 (20.87–26.25) in 2011. The results show increase in herbal medicine use in all age groups, both urban and rural areas, and both male and female over time. Also, we found that using traditional herbal medicines was more common among female compared with male (24.2% versus 21.8%), older than middle-aged people (24.4% versus 15.9%), and people living in urban areas compared with rural area (24.13% versus 20.95%) in 2011. The use of traditional herbs for treatment, alone or in combination with other therapies by the patients who have diabetes has increased over the time. Considering the high level of using traditional herbal medicines in treatment of diabetes and because of the possible herb–drug interactions, policymakers need to take appropriate interventions to control herb store and increase people's knowledge about the herbal usage.