Abstract
BackgroundHigh prevalence of herbal medicines used in pregnancy and the lack of information on their safety is a public concern. Despite this, no significant research has been done regarding potential adverse effects of using herbal medicines during pregnancy, especially among developing Asian countries.MethodsCross-sectional studies were searched up to year 2016 on PubMed/Medline and EMBASE, the data were extracted and quality of studies was assessed using the quality appraisal tool. The findings are reported in accordance to the PRISMA checklist (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Classification on safety of identified herbal medicines was done based on current scientific literature.ResultsThis study included eight cross-sectional studies (2729 participants) from seven different Asian countries, of which 1283 (47.01%) women used one or more herbal medicines during pregnancy. Peppermint (22.8%), aniseed (14.7%), olibanum (12.9%), flixweed seed (12.2%) and ginger (11.5%) were the most frequently used herbal medicines. Out of the 33 identified herbal medicines, 13 were classified as safe to use, five as use with caution, eight were potentially harmful to use in pregnancy and information on seven herbal medicines was not available in the current literature.ConclusionsSeveral herbal medicines identified in this review were classified to be potentially harmful or the information regarding safety in pregnancy was missing. It is recommended that contraindicated herbal medicines should be avoided and other herbals should be taken under supervision of a qualified health care practitioner. The classification regarding safety of herbal medicines in pregnancy can be utilized to create awareness on prevention of adverse effects.
Highlights
High prevalence of herbal medicines used in pregnancy and the lack of information on their safety is a public concern
The definition of herbal medicine in selected studies was comparable as it was according to the World Health Organization’s definition: “any medicinal product based on herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products, that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, other plant materials, or combinations thereof” [33]
The findings suggest that use of herbal medicines during pregnancy can have a number of adverse effects to mother and/or fetus
Summary
High prevalence of herbal medicines used in pregnancy and the lack of information on their safety is a public concern. No significant research has been done regarding potential adverse effects of using herbal medicines during pregnancy, especially among developing Asian countries. Asian countries have a long history of using traditional herbal medicines to manage various medical conditions [1]. Herbs can be obtained as unregulated food products which usually. Despite such risks, herbal medicines are popular among pregnant women [4]. Its prevalence up to 60% in the developed countries [6] is mainly because of the belief that herbs are natural and free of any adverse effects compared to conventional medicine [7]. Local traditions and social pressure could be the reason behind this practice [8]
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