Prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes toward herbal medicines among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Prince Mansour Military Hospital in Taif

BACKGROUND: Using of herbs is very common among pregnant women to treat the symptoms related to pregnancy as most people believe that herbs are safer than the medical drugs. This study aims to explore the prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes toward herbal medicines among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was applied at Prince Mansour Military Hospital in Taif city. It included a random sample of Saudi pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic. Arabic language self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. It included the personal data, herbal medicines use during pregnancy, and pregnant beliefs about use of herbal medicines and conventional medications. RESULTS: The study included 222 pregnant women. Their age ranged between 19 and 45 years with a mean of 30.15 and standard deviation of 5.51 years. About 15.3% of the participants never visited the antenatal clinics before while 56.8% of them visited them three times or more. The prevalence of using herbal medicines during pregnancy was 32.9%. The main source for obtaining herbal medicines was herbal shops (53.4%). Herbal medicines were self-used by majority of the pregnant women during pregnancy (82.2%). There was a statistically significant association between frequency of antenatal care visits and using of herbal medicines during pregnancy, P = 0.030. Majority of the women believed that most herbal medicines are natural (86%), most Western medicines are unsafe for them (74.8%) and their babies (75.2%) during pregnancy as well as herbals are beneficial if recommended by doctor (71.2%). CONCLUSION: Herbal medicines use during pregnancy is a common practice among women in Taif city, Saudi Arabia. Less frequent ANC visits was associated with high probability of herbal medicine use during pregnancy. Majority of pregnant women agreed that herbals are beneficial if recommended by doctor.