The use of herbs in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in Türkiye: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which are becoming increasingly common around the world, are chronic conditions that affect people's quality of life. This study aims to evaluate the use of herbal products by adults diagnosed with IBD in remission and to investigate the factors associated with the use of herbal products. Methodology: This study was conducted on 425 adult participants aged 18-65 years (Males = 154, Females = 271) diagnosed with IBD (UC = 295, CD = 130) who were referred to the gastroenterology outpatient clinics of two university hospitals. Data were collected using a questionnaire with three parts: socio-demographic, disease-related, and use of herbal products. Results: The most commonly used medicinal plants were Zingiber officinale Roscoe (40.5%), Curcuma longa L. (38.1%) and Momordica charantia L. (24.2%). There was a significant difference in the use of herbal products according to the presence of chronic diseases in addition to IBD (p<0.001). 44.4% of participants did not report their use of these herbal products to health professionals. The use of herbal products decreased with increasing age (95% CI:0.946-0.999) and educational level (for bachelor 95% CI: 0.141-0.857, for postgraduate 95% CI: 0.178-0.711) and increased with increasing duration of diagnosis (95% CI:1.049-1.134). In addition, the use of herbal products was higher in people who had not had surgery related to IBD (95% CI:1.658-11.628) and who did not have comorbidities (95% CI:1.836-11.607). Conclusions: Age, educational level, duration of disease, undergoing surgery related to IBD and having comorbidities are factors affecting the use of herbal products in patients with IBD. However, studies with larger sample sizes are needed to fully elucidate these relationships.