The Safety of Herbal Used for Health Complaints during Pregnancy ? A Systematic Review

• Main Authors: Zulfa Nurfitri Ramadhani, -, Maftuchah Rochmanti, -, Pungky Mulawardhana, -
• Format: Article PeerReviewed
• Language: English; English; English; English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Health 2020
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
• Online Access: https://repository.unair.ac.id/111373/1/The%20Safety%20of%20Herbal%20Used%20for%20Health%20Complaints%20during%20Pregnancy-A%20Systematic%20Review.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/111373/2/6.%20Acceptance%20Letter_Maftuchah%20with%20Zulfa%20Nurfitri%20R_SRP.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/111373/3/The%20Safety%20of%20Herbal.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/111373/4/The%20Safety%20of%20Herbal%20Used%20for%20Health%20Complaints%20during%20Pregnancy-A%20Systematic%20Review.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/111373/; https://www.sysrevpharm.org/abstract/the-safety-of-herbal-used-for-health-complaints-during-pregnancy-a-systematic-review-66905.html
• Institution: Universitas Airlangga

During pregnancy, a variety of symptoms can cause severe discomfort. Herbal therapy is one of the most widely used by pregnant woman to resolve their health complaints. This study aims to determine the health complaints as indications of herbal use, the types of herbs used, and the safety status of the herbs used during pregnancy. A literature search for cross-sectional studies from 2010 to 2020 was conducted on ScienceDirect, BMC, MedCrave, and JACM using predefined keywords. The literature’s quality assessment in this study uses the JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) Quality Assessment Tool for qualitative studies. The safety status of herbs was carried out based on 3 available sources. This study includes 6 cross-sectional studies (2189 participants) from Europe, Asia, and Africa with a total of 1176 (53.7%) pregnant woman used herbal medicine. Various health complaints were reported, especially common cold (28%); nausea-vomiting (21%); and UTI (10%). Of the 25 types of herbs found, 7 herbs species were classified safe, 5 herbs species classified as potentially harmful, and the remaining 13 types has unknown safety status. Thus, 649 (64.7%) pregnant women using safe herbal, 59 (5.8%) using potentially harmful herbs, and 294 (29.3%) using herbs with unknown safety status. Based on further studies, it was found that the herbs with unknown safety status contain various substances that might cause side effects in pregnancy. Many pregnant women use herbal for health complaints during pregnancy, and some consumed herbal that might risk their pregnancy.