Significant drug interactions have been reported between herbal treatments and prescription medications. Due to age and poor health status Medicare recipients are likely to be taking multiple medications. The high prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension in African-Americans makes this group vulnerable for polypharmacy. The frequency of herbal use in addition to prescriptions in African-American Medicare recipients is unknown. We propose to perform a secondary analysis of survey data from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) that have been collected for approximately 6,000 Medicare recipients. These data have over sampled for African-Americans and will compare two time spans, from 1993 to 1999. The use of prescription drugs, supplements, herbals and other non-prescription medications will be counted and the change in use will be evaluated over time. Simultaneous use of herbal and prescription drugs will be identified in the population and the risk of adverse reaction assessed. Should these combinations be prevalent in African-Americans on Medicare we will assess the need for education and/or further study. African- Americans already report lower satisfaction with their medical care and frequently leave the doctor's office with unanswered questions, therefore, special educational programs may be useful.
| Elmer, Gary W; Lafferty, William E; Tyree, Patrick T et al. (2007) Potential interactions between complementary/alternative products and conventional medicines in a Medicare population. Ann Pharmacother 41:1617-24 |
