Patients’ Behavior Regarding Dietary or Herbal Supplements before and during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Leen A. Aldwihi, Shahd I. Khan, Faisal F. Alamri, Yazed AlRuthia, Faleh Alqahtani, Omer I. Fantoukh, Ahmed Assiri and Omar A. Almohammed
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Leen A. Aldwihi: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shahd I. Khan: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Faisal F. Alamri: Basic Sciences Department, College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah 22384, Saudi Arabia
Yazed AlRuthia: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Faleh Alqahtani: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Omer I. Fantoukh: Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Assiri: General Directorate of Clinical Excellence, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia
Omar A. Almohammed: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: The use of traditional medicinal plants in Saudi Arabia stems mainly from consumers’ belief in prophetic medicine. This study was conducted to explore changes in patients’ use of dietary or herbal supplements among individuals infected with COVID-19 before and during infection and the association between herbal or dietary supplements and hospitalization. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted enrolling symptomatic patients who had recently recovered from COVID-19. Data were collected through phone interviews, and McNemar’s test was used to investigate changes to consumption of dietary or herbal supplements before and during infection. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the association between supplements use during patients’ infection and hospitalization. A total of 738 patients were included in this study, of whom 32.1% required hospitalization. About 57% of participants were male with a mean age of 36.5 (±11.9) years. The use of lemon/orange, honey, ginger, vitamin C, and black seed among participants significantly increased during their infection. In contrast, patients using anise, peppermint, and coffee peel before their infection were more likely to stop using them during their infection. In addition, using lemon/orange ( p < 0.0001), honey ( p = 0.0002), ginger ( p = 0.0053), vitamin C ( p = 0.0006), black seed ( p < 0.0001), peppermint ( p = 0.0027), costus ( p = 0.0095), and turmeric ( p = 0.0012) was significantly higher among nonhospitalized patients than hospitalized ones. However, in the multivariable logistic regression, only use of vitamin C (OR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.33–0.79), peppermint (OR = 0.53; 95% CI 0.31–0.90), and lemon/orange (OR = 0.54; 95% CI 0.33–0.88) was associated with significantly lower odds of hospitalization. The study reveals that patients’ consumption of dietary or herbal supplements changed in response to their COVID-19 infection, with hospitalized patients having a lower likelihood of using these supplements. Because some supplements were associated with lower odds of hospitalization, these supplements or their bioactive components should be further investigated as feasible options for COVID-19 treatment.

Keywords: COVID-19; dietary; herbal; supplements; Saudi Arabia; behavior; hospitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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