Title
Natural health product-HIV drug interactions: A systematic review
Date Issued
01 March 2005
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
May Clinic
Abstract
The use of natural health products (NHPs) within the HIV community is high. Several NHPs have demonstrated interactions with HIV medications that could contribute to drug failure. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of clinical trials examining NHP-HIV drug interactions and their methodological characteristics. We searched electronic databases and unpublished resources independently, in duplicate. Nine studies were identified, eight clinical pharmacokinetics trials and one population-pharmacokinetics trial. Investigators studied four different herbal medicines (St John's wort, garlic, goldenseal and milk thistle) and one vitamin (vitamin C). Significant interactions were observed with St John's wort, garlic and vitamin C. However, methodological challenges exist to making the results directly generalizable to patients. This review finds that important drug level changes exist when NHPs are combined with HIV medications. Considering patient values and the implications of these studies, further research is urgently required to determine the extent of interactions with other commonly used NHPs.
Start page
181
End page
186
Volume
16
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias socio biomédicas (planificación familiar, salud sexual, efectos políticos y sociales de la investigación biomédica)
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-16344384875
PubMed ID
Source
International Journal of STD and AIDS
ISSN of the container
09564624
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus