Pneumology - Original Articles
12 May 2025
Early Access
https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3066

Use of herbal medicine related to anxiety and depression in the general population of southeast Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic

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COVID-19, anxiety, herbal medicine, Persian medicine, health behavior, health belief
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Authors

Hossein Yarmohammadi
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-9511
Medical Students Research Committee, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
Maryam Iranzadasl
m.iranzad@shahed.ac.ir
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3470-4586
Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Persian Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
Mohammad Mostafa Ansari Ramandi
Department of Cardiology, University of Groningen; Center for Congenital Heart Disease, University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.
Mohammad Gholami Fesharaki
Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
Fereshteh Ghorat
Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Iran, Islamic Republic of.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased anxiety/depression and changes in people’s health behaviors. This study aimed to investigate health beliefs regarding using herbal medicine and its associated factors among Iranians. A cross-sectional study on the general population in Birjand (southeast Iran) was conducted using a survey questionnaire (an online platform for creating questionnaires, available at https://porsline.ir/) consisting of demographic characteristics and beliefs toward herbal medicine use, as well as a telehealth and hospital anxiety and depression scale questionnaire to address anxiety and depression disorders. All statistical analysis was done with SPSS software version 18, and a p-value of 0.05 or less was considered significant. The study included 619 participants with a mean age of 36.58±10.74 and a female rate of 61%. The overall use of herbal medicine was 385 (62%), 170 (28%) for prevention, 12 (2%) for treatment, 170 (28%) for relaxation, and 191 (31%) for other reasons. Using herbal medicine for relaxation (p=0.010) and prevention (p=0.02) was significantly associated with less anxiety, while using herbs for the treatment of COVID-19 had an association with no family history of Coronavirus infection (p<0.001). The majority of participants used herbal medicine for different purposes for COVID-19, and this health behavior had a relationship with anxiety/depression and family history of COVID-19. This study's findings would be useful to researchers and policymakers in improving health beliefs and behaviors during the other pandemic in Iran.

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Ethics Approval

The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of Birjand University of Medical Sciences IR.BUMS.REC.1399.002 on April 10, 2019. The committee assessed the planned project as ethically unobjectionable.

How to Cite



“Use of Herbal Medicine Related to Anxiety and Depression in the General Population of Southeast Iran During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. 2025. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease, May. https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3066.
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