Hospital admissions due to adverse reactions to Chinese herbal medicines

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) are commonly used in Hong Kong. To determine the importance of adverse reactions to CHM as a cause of medical admissions in Hong Kong, all 1701 patients admitted to two general medical wards at the Prince of Wales Hospital over an eight-month period were prospectively studied. In only three patients (0.2%) was the admission attributed to the adverse effects of CHM. These were life-threatening in two cases ('dazao'-induced angio-neurotic oedema and liquorice-induced hypokalaemic periodic paralysis). Despite this low incidence of adverse reactions, in communities where CHM are commonly used, it is important that there is a continuing effort to collect new information on the safety of these compounds.