Use of medicinal plants by patients with hypertension and diabetes: a cross-sectional study in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To describe the use of medicinal plants by hypertensive and/or diabetic patients served by primary health care centers and at a specialized outpatient clinic. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional study was carried out with 122 participants in 16 Primary Health Care Centers run by the VI Regional Executive Secretariat and at a specialized outpatient clinic of the Walter Cantídio Teaching Hospital in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, from April 2014 to January 2015. Interviews were carried out using a form with 41 questions distributed into three sections: sociodemographic data; data on the disease, treatment and conventional medication adherence; and data on the use of medicinal plants. Descriptive and inferential analysis of data was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: Of the 122 patients, 66 (54.09%) received tertiary care, 50.82% were older than 60 years (n=62), 70.49% were women (n=86), 31.97% had incomplete primary education (n=39), 45.08% were retired/pensioners (n=55), 55.74% lived with a partner (n=68) and 32.79% were hypertensive/diabetics (n=40). Use of plants was significantly associated with level of care (p=0.0001), education (p=0.021) and underlying disease (p=0.0001). Conclusion: The use of medicinal plants was present in the study population and the high prevalence of the use points to the need of further studies about the benefits and harms of this practice, the training of the professionals involved, and, consequently, the safety, efficacy, and rational use by the patients.