The Labour and Birth Outcomes Associated with the Use of Herbal Medicine in Pregnancy

The labour and birth outcomes associated with the use of herbal medicine in pregnancy

Steel, A, Frawley, J, Adams, J, Sibbritt, D and Broom, A

Presenting author’s e-mail:

1 Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia

2 School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia

Introduction/Background: The safety and effectiveness of herbal medicine for use by pregnant and birthing women has received more scrutiny than almost any other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Despite this, the focus of current research is quite narrow and often draws upon small sample sizes or limited study designs. For this reason, there is a need to broaden the approach to examining the place of medicinal plants in contemporary maternity care with more robust epidemiological data. Method: Analysis of herbal medicine use by pregnant and birthing women (n=2445) from a large, nationally-representative data set from a sub-study of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health is presented. The study explores the outcomes associated with the use of medicinal plants in pregnancy including herbal medicines, herbal teas, aromatherapy oils, and consultations with a naturopath or herbalist. Results: The results from the study indicate that the use of any of these CAM during pregnancy is associated with a greater use of non-pharmacological labour pain management techniques, but only the use of herbal teas during pregnancy is linked with a reduced use of epidural (OR=0.60). The use of herbal medicines is associated with a lower rate of caesarean delivery before labour (OR=0.26), whilst herbal teas are related to a reduced incidence of premature birth (OR=0.32) but an increased occurrence of retained placenta (OR=0.02). Conclusion: This study explores previously unexamined relationships and identifies a number of important correlations. Further detailed examination of this topic is needed to determine the clinical significance of these findings.