Concomitant Use of Herbal and Conventional Medicines among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in Public Hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 3

Traditional medicine use practices of patients with diabetes in selected public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2016 (n = 791).

Variable	Frequency	Percent
Ever use of TM
Yes	409	51.7
No	382	48.3
TM use in the last six months
Yes	357	87.3
No	52	12.7
Disease to be treated using TM
Diabetes mellitus	218	61.1
Diseases other than DM	25	7.0
Both	114	31.9
Time for TM use
Before starting antidiabetic drugs	101	30.4
After starting antidiabetic drugs	231	69.6
Type of TM
Herb/herb product	288	80.7
Holy water	69	19.3
Perceived reasons to use TM
TM is more potent and curable	240	58.7
High cost of the conventional drugs	96	23.5
Toxicity/side effect of the conventional drugs	33	8.1
Inaccessibility to the modern health facilities	29	7.1
Others	11	2.7

Others' reasons to use TM include unsatisfactory service in health facilities, to augment treatment, and no reason.