Acceptance of Phytopharmaceuticals by Physicians  and Patients in Primary-Care Clinics

Ofelia Romero Cerecero; Hortensia Reyes Morales; Armando Herrera Arellano; Xavier Lozoya Legorreta; Jaime Tortoriello

2004, Number 2

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Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc 2004; 42 (2)

Acceptance of Phytopharmaceuticals by Physicians and Patients in Primary-Care Clinics

Romero CO, Reyes MH, Herrera AA, Lozoya LX, Tortoriello J

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Language: Spanish
References: 11
Page: 125-130
PDF size: 66.30 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Objective: our objective was to evaluate accept-ance of phytopharmaceuticals in physicians and patients at primary medical care level at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Mexico. Material and methods: we conducted a transversal, observational, and comparative study. A question-naire was applied to physicians and patients. Results: we found that of a total of 106 physicians, 74.5 % knew of the phytopharmaceuticals and 41.5 % had already prescribed these kind of drugs. The majority (72.7 %) prescribed phytopharma-ceuticals occasionally and 27.3 %, frequently. Of the 400 patients included in this study, 42.7 % received phytopharmaceuticals, 83.7 % responded that they agree to be treated with these type of drugs if the disease was not serious, and 61.2 % accepted this treatment for serious diseases. If the patient could select the type of drug to be used for his treatment, 45.5 % would prefer use of phytopharmaceuticals. Analysis of results showed 68.8% acceptance among physicians and 44.5 % among patients. Conclusions: despite scarce information available with regard to phytopharmaceuticals, we demon-strated significant acceptance of these products among physicians and patients. This highlighted the importance of promoting activities of education, research, and development of these products.

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