Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36402712›Full record

SynthesisResearch in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP2023

Attitudes and beliefs regarding the use of herbs and supplementary medications with COVID-19: A systematic review.

Abderrezzaq Soltani, Myriam Jaam, Zachariah Nazar, Derek Stewart, Abdullah Shaito

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Causal Model of Herb Use Behavior Among Working-age Adults in Thailand.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2024
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Abderrezzaq SoltaniQU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: asoltani@qu.edu.qa.
Myriam JaamClinical Pharmacy and Practice Department, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: myriamj@live.co.uk.
Zachariah NazarClinical Pharmacy and Practice Department, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: znazar@qu.edu.qa.
Derek StewartClinical Pharmacy and Practice Department, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: d.stewart@qu.edu.qa.
Abdullah ShaitoBiomedical Research Center, College of Medicine, And Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: abdshaito@qu.edu.qa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimThere is growing interest in using herbs and supplementary medications to treat and/or prevent COVID-19, evidenced by multiple reports exploring their effectiveness and safety. From a health psychology perspective, the desire to use herbs and supplementary medications to prevent and/or treat COVID-19 is a health behavior which is attributed to attitudes and beliefs. This systematic review critically appraised and synthesized the data from studies investigating these attitudes and beliefs.

methodsEMBASE, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Cochrane (library), and WebOfScience were searched from inception to December 13, 2021 for studies investigating attitudes and beliefs on the use of herbs and supplementary medications to treat and/or prevent COVID-19.

resultsA total of 17 articles were identified for inclusion. All except one were of cross-sectional design. Participants across most studies had a positive attitude towards using herbs and supplementary medications. They believed that herbs and supplementary medications were effective and were confident in their value in preventing and/or treating COVID-19 symptoms. The majority of included studies had significant flaws in study design and reporting, including inconsistent definitions of herbs and supplementary medications, a lack of theoretical models and conceptual frameworks underpinning the study of beliefs and attitudes, in addition to methodological issues of robustness affecting the validity and reliability of data.

conclusionThe use of herbs and supplementary medicines to prevent and/or treat COVID-19 could well be driven by a positive attitude stemming from beliefs of effectiveness and safety. There is a need for well-designed studies on attitudes and beliefs that are driven by health behavior theories to permit generalizability of findings and establish more conclusive relationships between beliefs, attitudes and the decision to use herbs and supplementary medications to treat and/or prevent COVID-19.

Indexed as

COVID-19AttitudeCross-Sectional StudiesHealth BehaviorHumansReproducibility of ResultsAttitudesBeliefsCOVID-19HerbsSupplementary medicationsSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID36402712
PMCPMC9659320

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.