- Published: March 6, 2013
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058642
Abstract
The aim of the current survey was to investigate the complementary self-treatment of the common cold and flu with medicinal plants among pharmacy customers in Estonia. A multiple-choice questionnaire listing 10 plants and posing questions on the perceived characteristics of cold and flu, the effectiveness of plants, help-seeking behaviour, self-treatment and sources of information, was distributed to a sample of participants in two medium size pharmacies. The participants were pharmacy customers: 150 in Tallinn (mostly Russian speaking) and 150 in Kuressaare (mostly Estonian speaking). The mean number of plants used by participants was 4.1. Of the respondents, 69% self-treated the common cold and flu and 28% consulted with a general practitioner. In general, medicinal plants were considered effective in the treatment of the above-mentioned illnesses and 56% of the respondents had used exclusively medicinal plants or their combination with OTC medicines and other means of folk medicine for treatment. The use of medicinal plants increased with age and was more frequent among female than male respondents. Among Estonian-speaking customers lime flowers, blackcurrant and camomile were more frequently used, and among Russian speaking customers raspberry and lemon fruits. Regardless of some statistically significant differences in preferred species among different age, education, sex and nationality groups, the general attitude towards medicinal plants for self-treatment of the common cold and flu in Estonia was very favourable.Figures
Citation: Raal A,
Volmer D, Sõukand R, Hratkevitš S, Kalle R (2013) Complementary
Treatment of the Common Cold and Flu with Medicinal Plants – Results
from Two Samples of Pharmacy Customers in Estonia. PLoS ONE 8(3):
e58642.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058642
Editor: Paul G. Thomas, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, United States of America
Received: October 12, 2012; Accepted: February 5, 2013; Published: March 6, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Raal et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Editor: Paul G. Thomas, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, United States of America
Received: October 12, 2012; Accepted: February 5, 2013; Published: March 6, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Raal et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction
The common cold is one of the most frequent minor illnesses in the world. Caused by 200 identified types of viruses, the common cold is primarily associated with rhinoviruses [1]. Common cold symptoms may include nasal congestion, an acute cough and/or sore throat [2]. The common cold is distinct from flu, associated with the influenza virus. A fever greater than 38°C and generalized aches and pains are the best predictors of a diagnosis of flu [3]. In the popular approach, both the described illnesses are perceived as similar conditions [4], [5]. The common cold and flu are predominantly self-diagnosed and self-medicated with OTC medicines and/or herbal products [6],[7].Nowadays complementary medicine, including herbal medicine, is becoming an increasingly popular health care approach, which has been used for both general maintenance of health and for treatment of minor illnesses [8]. In Europe several herbs of different plant species have been used against flu and the common cold: lime and elder flowers, meadowsweet flowers and herb, purple echinacea aerial parts and roots, wild rose, blackcurrant and sea buckthorn fruits, lemon juice, etc [9]. In Russia and Estonia garlic, ramson, onion, raspberry, cranberry, Iceland moss, cowslip primrose aerial parts and roots, plantain species leaves, yarrow, oregano, aerial parts of common and creeping thyme, coltsfoot leaves, willow bark, etc. have also been used for centuries [10],[11].
Estonia is a small country in Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic States, bordering with Finland, Russia and Latvia. About 3/4 of its 1.3 mil population are Estonian speaking, while the remaining population mostly speaks Russian as their mother-tongue. Estonian people have long traditions in the use of medicinal plants and, due to neighbouring Russia, the traditional medicinal plants of both Europe and Russia have been consumed.
Of almost 1500 native and over 700 introduced plant species [12], Estonians utilized over 500 taxa in the period 1888–1994 [5]. Although within the century the proportion of medicinal plants requiring human intervention increased and the use of taxa unfavourable to human impact decreased, overall knowledge on the use of medicinal plants remained high among the Estonian speaking population [13]. Currently in Estonian alternative medicine there are two main means of obtaining information on the use of medicinal plants: traditions or literary sources [14]. Also, some people rely on previous personal experience or information provided by a health care professional, usually a pharmacist [15],[16].
The aim of this study was to evaluate the complementary self-treatment of the common cold and flu with medicinal plants among pharmacy customers in Estonia. We argue that different demographic groups prefer to use different medicinal plants for self-treatment of the common cold and flu.
