Bin Liu worked with
the Research Director in conducting this pilot when she was an MSc student at
the University of York. In June 2004, we invited 549 herbalists who were members
of the UK Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine to ask 10 consecutive patients to
participate in the survey. Consenting patients returned their baseline survey forms direct
to the research centre. Four weeks later patients were sent a follow-up
questionnaire in which they reported adverse events that they perceived were caused by the
Chinese herbal medicine over the previous four weeks. We analysed the data, exploring types and frequencies of
adverse events as well as assessing potential risk factors using multi-level logistic
regression while taking into account the clustering of patients with practitioners.
Of the 161 responding practitioners of
Chinese herbal medicine, 71 agreed to participate, 13% of the total membership. 194
patients returned baseline questionnaires, an average of 2.7 patients per practitioner.
144 (74%) patients completed the four-week follow-up questionnaires. 32 adverse events
associated with Chinese herbal medicine were reported by 20 patients (14% of patients over
four weeks, 95 % CI: 9% to 20%)
who were consulting 14 herbalists. No serious adverse events were reported. The
most commonly reported adverse events were diarrhoea, fatigue and nausea. When controlling
for potential confounders, patients consulting for Chinese herbal medicine for the first
time were more likely to report an adverse event than repeat attenders (OR 3.03; 95% CI:
1.03 to 8.89, p<0.02).
In this pilot, the
recruitment rate was low with only 13% of practitioners participating, and only 27% of
potential patients returning consent forms, raising questions about potential bias. This
research has provided some useful data which will assist in the initiation of future
studies. We hope to use the published results
of this pilot as a platform for a bid for major funding of this project.
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