Herbal Supplement Use Among Adolescent and Young Adult Women in a Family Planning Clinic

Abstract

Study ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate herbal medicine and supplement use patterns among adolescent and young adult women at a family planning focused clinic. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of patients (ages 14-25) at an adolescent Title X clinic. Participants completed an electronic survey that assessed herbal medicine and supplement use, baseline demographics, and current contraceptive method. We evaluated supplement-drug interactions using the Natural Medicine's database interaction checker. Quantitative analyses were performed using chi-squared and independent medians tests. ResultsWe enrolled 99 participants with a median age of 20 (15-24) years. Overall, 42.4% of patients reported ever having used supplements or herbal medicines with 29.9% of patients reporting current supplement or herbal medicine use. Patients with higher education and private insurance were more likely to report a history of and current supplement use (p<0.05). The most common herbal supplements reported were green tea (n=26), cannabidiol (n=17), and cranberry (n=16) with 29.6% of participants reporting use to their general healthcare provider. The most common reasons for use were general health and wellness (29.1%), immune support (23.2%), stress (16.8%), and menstrual irregularities (6.0%). We found 62 moderate risk supplement-drug interactions with 50 interactions attributed to hormonal contraceptive therapies. The most common interactions were via cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP3A4 or CYP1A2) inhibition, decreased caffeine clearance, and potential hepatotoxicity. ConclusionAdolescent and young adult women frequently reported past and current herbal medicine and supplement use, with high rates of moderate risk supplement-drug interactions. Further research is needed to better elucidate these clinically-relevant supplement-contraception interactions.