Abstract
Objective: To identify the herbal medicinal products used in pregnancy in community pharmacies, the approach of pharmacists in Northern Cyprus and to compare the availability of the most commonly mentioned medicinal plants in accessible databases, in Northern Cyprus.
 Design: Questionnaire was designed and administered to 263 community pharmacists in Northern Cyprus and gathered the data on herbal medicinal products they had and recommended to pregnant women. Databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, OpenAcces Journals were searched through the Near East University Grand Library’s Online Resources for keywords relating to the ‘herbal medicine’, ‘pregnancy’ ‘pregnant women’, ‘herbal products’. Descriptive statistics was used with IBM® Statistical product and service solutions software platform.
 Location/Setting: Northern Cyprus
 Outcome Measures: Herbal medicinal products used and recommended in pregnancy by community pharmacists in Northern Cyprus were identified. It has also been determined which of the most used plants in the world are grown in Northern Cyprus.
 Results: The most recommended herbal pharmaceutical forms were herbal lozenges (n = 76, 31%), then herbal form of teas (n = 60, 24%), herbal oils (n = 57, 23%), herbal capsules (n = 36, 14%), other pharmaceutical forms (n=20, 8%). Within the limitation of our literature search, totally 650 medicinal plants (single or formula) used in pregnancy were determined. Out of these 74 were mostly used worldwide, and it was discovered that 56 species out of these plants are grown or cultivated; 18 of the compiled species were imported species some of the genera have species growing naturally growing in Cyprus.
 Conclusion: Pregnant women in Cyprus also follow their counterparts in other countries in developing interest in herbal medicines. The number of herbal medicines in the pharmacies owned by Turkish Cypriots is small. Interestingly, the result of this study showed that the pharmacists that were mainly Turkish Cypriots were found not to be selling herbal medicinal products to pregnant women without doctor’s prescriptions. This study recommends that the herbal medicines use in pregnancy should be the ones that have undergone in-depth evidence-based scientific researches with clinically proven efficacy that are known not only to the healthcare professionals such as medical doctors, midwives but also the pharmacists and the general public.
Highlights
Taking care of pregnancy is important to pregnant women at all stages of development of the fetus
There is no doubt that there is increase in the use of herbal medicinal products and the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in pregnancy worldwide mostly because they are considered more natural and safe
Some pregnant women go for safe medication using the Herbal Medicinal Product (HMP) without the consent of their healthcare professional indicating the need for educating them as well as the healthcare professionals on the pros and cons of using HMPs
Summary
Taking care of pregnancy is important to pregnant women at all stages of development of the fetus. The use of latter for example is receiving attention among pregnant women especially in the past thirty years, remarkable increase has been recorded in the last twenty. This is because of the perception that herbal medicines are of comparatively lesser side effects than the conventional medicines largely by women as opposed men [1, 2]. Likelihood of such usability is higher at pregnancy especially second trimester when the signs of the pregnancy are eminent. As evident in various part of the world, different types and forms of herbal medicinal products were used by pregnant women for different purpose
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
