Use and attitude on herbal medicine in a group of pregnant women in Tehran

While the use of herbal medicines is common in Tehran, there is scant data regarding various aspects of the use of such medicines during pregnancy. The frequency of the use of herbal medicines in a group of pregnant women in Tehran and their attitude to the use of such medicines were evaluated. In this cross-sectional study, 600 pregnant women were studied. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to explore the demographic and pregnancy related data, the extent of use of the herbal medicines, the subjects' sources of information and their attitude regarding such medicines. The data were analyzed using student t- and chi-square tests. Logistic regression was used to determine the predicting factors. 402 [67%] participants had used at least one type of herbal medicine during their current or previous pregnancies, with a mean of 2.71 +/- 1.94 herbs per individual. Two commonly used herbs were peppermint [32.8%] and olibanum [26.3%]. Maternal and Gestational age, family size, children number, frequency of having medical insurance and positive attitude in users were significantly higher than non-users [P values were 0.02, 0.02, 0.001, <0.001, 0.04 and <0.001 respectively]. The score of attitude was the only predictor for taking herbal medicine with the odds ratio 0.89 [95% confidence interval: 0.86-0.92] of logistic regression model for negative attitude. Considering the high frequency of herbal medicine use during pregnancy, pregnant women need appropriate sources of information about these medicines. Further, health care providers should ask pregnant women about taking herbal medicines

concept of palliative care practice among Iranian general practitioners

General Practitioners [GPs] have the main responsibility in medical and particularly palliative care provision in most of countries, though this is not the current case in Iran. Development of 'family physician' approach in rural and most of the urban areas in Iran, GPs will have the main role in care provision. There is no formal palliative care education during general medical training in the country so far. Regarding the increasing number of people in need of palliative care services, it is essential to assess GPs' knowledge about palliative care to develop special palliative care educational programmes. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on general practitioners participated in a formal Continuous Medical Education programme, using three scales. 216 GPs returned the completed questionnaires. More than half scored their knowledge about palliative care as weak, which was significantly related to their previous experience in caring of a terminally ill patient [p=0.001]. Less than one third stated their good ability to either assess or manage pain in end of life. Major gender differences were seen in different subscales such as communication with patients and carers, patient management, palliative care knowledge and skills, and psychological stress. This study revealed a profound lack of knowledge and experience among Iranian general practitioners about palliative care which was mostly in more complicated areas rather than common symptoms relief

Spiritual care at the end of life in the Islamic context, a systematic review

According to the statistics over 30000 deaths occur annually in Iran due to cancer with an incidence of over 70000 new cases; this growing rate is similar to the developing world. These figures do not take into account other chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart failure, gastro-intestinal disorders, chronic neurological disorders and lung disease, which all warrant palliative care. A systematic review was conducted until the end of 2007, to find out the ways that palliative care services are provided for Muslim patients suffering from cancer. Only three papers met the criteria as being original research either quantitative or qualitative, published during the last 10 years. Our findings conceded that very few papers are available in Islamic context about spiritual care at the end of life, where only one was quantitative. While cancer is rapidly increasing specially in developing world, the need of terminally ill patients with other conditions should be equally considered. Despite the fact that spirituality in Islamic societies exists profoundly, spiritual care must be institutionalised for patients who are in most need at their end of life, which needs more evidence

Traditional and complementary/alternative medicine [TCAM] in medical theses [1991-2006]

To assess TCAM in medical theses during the recent 15 years in medical schools of Tehran, Iran. All medical theses in 4 main medical schools [Iran, Shahid Beheshti, Shahed and Tehran medical schools] registered during 1991-2006 were assessed to find subjects related to TCAM. Theses were evaluated regarding the type of study, grade/ specialty of author and type of TCAM. In all, 28344 medical theses have been registered during the study period. Of these, 110 theses [3.88 per 1000] were related to TCAM. There was a statistically significant increasing trend in the proportion of TCAM subjects [P < 0.001, X < sup > 2 < /sup > for trends=42.7]. Among the TCAM studies, 37.3 percent were related to clinical aspects. The proportion of clinical topics was significantly higher for specialized degrees than the general medicine [P < 0.001]. Even though there was an increasing trend during recent years, the proportion of TCAM subjects was relatively low. Re-orienting medical students could play an important role in increasing the production of scientific evidences on the topic