Comparative study of serum biochemical parameters between diabetic patients using medicinal plants and those using only conventional treatment in the rural region of the province of Tlemcen (North-western Algeria)

A survey is carried out on 148 diabetic patients from rural Fellaoucene, Tlemcen Province (North-Western Algeria). The main interest of this study is to determine the frequency of diabetic patients using medicinal plants with their conventional medication to relieve their diabetes mellitus and to compare their serum biochemical parameters with patients do not use these plants in combination with drugs. A questionnaire is used to collect information about patients (age, sex), diabetes (duration, type, treatments, and complications), antidiabetic plants use (vernacular, scientific names) and variation of some serum biochemical parameters (glycemia, triglyceride, cholesterol, urea, creatinine, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)). 72% of diabetic patients are type 2 diabetes mellitus and 77% of them are women with a mean age of 53 years. More than 26% of the cases are suffering from diabetes for more than 10 years. 96% of the patients are affected by at least one chronic complication. The results show that 21% of diabetics use medicinal plants without any significant effects on the balance of the biochemical parameters tested. We notice a slight increase in glycemia (1.39±0.48 g/l) and HbA1c (7.27±0.69 %) of both populations when compared to the values recommended by WHO (1.26 g/l and 6.5%, respectively). The medicinal plants still have a place in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in the rural region of Fellaoucene, Tlemcen (Algeria)