Prevalence of Traditional Herbs and Supplements Use Among Hypertensive Patients in Om Elamad Health Center

Background: In recent years, hypertension has developed into a global health concern as the number of deaths from it has been on the increase across the world. Health provision in Jordan like other developing nations is poor compared to countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and US. However, concurrent use of conventional medication and the supplements and traditional herbs can impact on the treatment of hypertension. In this regards, it was significant to conduct this study to find out the prevalence of supplements and traditional herbs usage among hypertensive patients in Jordan so as to understand the associated factors and create awareness on the magnitude so that appropriate advice can be given to patients and thus improve health of populations. Material and Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional study design in undertaking the research. A total of 208 hypertension patients aged 16 years and above were used as the sample. Purposive and convenient sampling was applied in the selection of the Om elamad health centre in Jordan because it has a population of the catchment Centre. Data analysis was carried out using various techniques SPSS version21and excel. Results: The key findings of the study were as follows: Hypertension was prevalent among the elderly, herbs had no effect on the blood pressure, conventional drugs were more potent in comparison to herbs and/or supplements. Combining antihypertensive drugs and herbs was found to be potent than taking antihypertensive drugs only(P-value=0.0050) in SBP, and (P-value=0.0001) in DPB. Influences on herbs use came from the patients' families/relatives as they were found to be the most knowledgeable sources of medicinal herbs. Conclusion: From the study, it was deduced that the use of herbal medicines and supplements as well as antihypertensive drugs was prevalent among hypertensive patients in Jordan. Over half of the patients involved in this study were taking herbs to treat their blood pressure diseases (51. 4 %). It was also deduced that a combined usage of herbal medicine and supplements with antihypertensive drugs was far more potent than using antihypertensive drugs only.