{"title":"Herbal medicine use in Republic of Korea to alleviate side effects of COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study","authors":"Hae-Chang Yoon","doi":"10.1016/j.joim.2023.06.002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, and several virus variants have emerged. Vaccines are administered to help prevent the infection. In Republic of Korea, most people take herbal medicine. This study investigated the use of herbal medicine to counter the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in the use of herbal medication according to sociodemographic characteristics. Independent two-sample and paired <em>t</em>-tests were performed to examine the effect and satisfaction of herbal medicine use for countering the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine vaccine-related differences.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>A total of 233 and 181 participants received the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines, respectively. The majority of herbal medicine users were in their thirties, had a bachelor’s degree, suffered from side effects of vaccination, and received Vaxzevria for their first COVID-19 vaccine dose and Comirnaty for their second dose. The herbal medicine group had a higher satisfaction level of post-vaccination side effects than the non-herbal medicine group (<em>P</em> < 0.0001). The numeric rating scale scores for vaccination side effects were lower among participants who took herbal medication to alleviate those symptoms (<em>P</em> < 0.0001). The most commonly used herbal formula was Shuanghetang.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>A third of participants receiving COVID-19 vaccines used herbal medication to counter the side effects of vaccination. The use of herbal medicine was associated with age, education level, vaccine brand, and whether side effects of vaccination occurred. Herbal medication use was associated with greater satisfaction compared to vaccine recipients not using herbal medication.</p><p>Please cite this article as: Yoon HC. Herbal medicine use in Republic of Korea to alleviate side effects of COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study. <em>J Integr Med</em>. 2023; 21(4):361–368.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10249366/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095496423000444","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, and several virus variants have emerged. Vaccines are administered to help prevent the infection. In Republic of Korea, most people take herbal medicine. This study investigated the use of herbal medicine to counter the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
Methods
This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in the use of herbal medication according to sociodemographic characteristics. Independent two-sample and paired t-tests were performed to examine the effect and satisfaction of herbal medicine use for countering the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine vaccine-related differences.
Results
A total of 233 and 181 participants received the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines, respectively. The majority of herbal medicine users were in their thirties, had a bachelor’s degree, suffered from side effects of vaccination, and received Vaxzevria for their first COVID-19 vaccine dose and Comirnaty for their second dose. The herbal medicine group had a higher satisfaction level of post-vaccination side effects than the non-herbal medicine group (P < 0.0001). The numeric rating scale scores for vaccination side effects were lower among participants who took herbal medication to alleviate those symptoms (P < 0.0001). The most commonly used herbal formula was Shuanghetang.
Conclusion
A third of participants receiving COVID-19 vaccines used herbal medication to counter the side effects of vaccination. The use of herbal medicine was associated with age, education level, vaccine brand, and whether side effects of vaccination occurred. Herbal medication use was associated with greater satisfaction compared to vaccine recipients not using herbal medication.
Please cite this article as: Yoon HC. Herbal medicine use in Republic of Korea to alleviate side effects of COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(4):361–368.
期刊介绍：
The predecessor of JIM is the Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine (Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Xue Bao). With this new, English-language publication, we are committed to make JIM an international platform for publishing high-quality papers on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and an open forum in which the different professions and international scholarly communities can exchange views, share research and their clinical experience, discuss CAM education, and confer about issues and problems in our various disciplines and in CAM as a whole in order to promote integrative medicine.
JIM is indexed/abstracted in: MEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Embase, Chemical Abstracts (CA), CAB Abstracts, EBSCO, WPRIM, JST China, Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD), and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
JIM Editorial Office uses ThomsonReuters ScholarOne Manuscripts as submitting and review system (submission link: http://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/jcim-en).
JIM is published bimonthly. Manuscripts submitted to JIM should be written in English. Article types include but are not limited to randomized controlled and pragmatic trials, translational and patient-centered effectiveness outcome studies, case series and reports, clinical trial protocols, preclinical and basic science studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, papers on methodology and CAM history or education, conference proceedings, editorials, commentaries, short communications, book reviews, and letters to the editor.
Our purpose is to publish a prestigious international journal for studies in integrative medicine. To achieve this aim, we seek to publish high-quality papers on any aspects of integrative medicine, such as acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, chiropractic, mind-body medicine, taichi, qigong, meditation, and any other modalities of CAM; our commitment to international scope ensures that research and progress from all regions of the world are widely covered. These ensure that articles published in JIM have the maximum exposure to the international scholarly community.
JIM can help its authors let their papers reach the widest possible range of readers, and let all those who share an interest in their research field be concerned with their study.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
