OBJECTIVES

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including vitamins, minerals, and herbal products, is widespread in the United States.Pharmacists are an accessible and professional information source for CAM products, but little is known about their use of these products.The objectives of this study were to describe pharmacists’ use of vitamin, mineral, and herbal products, reasons for use, conditions used to treat, who they recommend CAM to, and to relate the findings to evidence for their use.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional survey was sent via email to pharmacists licensed in one United States state in 2015. The survey included items about their use of 10 vitamin and minerals, and 21 herbal supplements, as well as reasons for use, conditions used to treat, if they would recommend the product to patients, family, or friends. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, and a chi-square test was used to determine differences between pharmacists’ use of vitamins, minerals, and herbal products and their recommendation patterns. The a priori alpha level was 0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 639 participants completed the survey. Women used vitamin and mineral (p=0.03) and herbal (p=0.04) products more than men. Seventy-eight percent of respondents reported ever use of any vitamin or mineral product versus 42% who reported ever use of any herbal product. Commonly used products included: multivitamins (91%), vitamin C (71%), fish oil (65%), probiotics (53%), and fiber (53%). The most commonly reported reason for use was general health and wellness (range 17%-90%). Respondents would recommend many of the vitamin, mineral, and herbal products to patients, friends, and family.

CONCLUSIONS

Pharmacists in this survey selectively used vitamins, minerals, and herbal products, and their reasons for use appeared to be rational and evidence-based.