Plantas medicinais utilizadas pela comunidade assistida na estratégia de saúde da família, Maceió, Alagoas, Brasil

Abstract

The present study aimed to register, for the first time, the use of plant used for medicinal purposes by the community assisted in the Estratégia de Saúde da Família (ESF) São José Canaã, município de Maceió, Alagoas. We conducted an epidemiological cross-sectional, from June 2011 to September 2012, with 118 users served by the ESF using interview forms for data collection. All species had the botanical identification by the Instituto de Meio Ambiente de Alagoas. The results showed that 94.17% of population used plants for medicinal purposes. The large majority of users (94.7 %) were female and aged between 51 and 60 years old. The total of 48 species was identified, being the higher frequency of use the species L. alba (80.5%) and P. barbatus (70.7 %). For these users, the decoction (92.9 %) of the leaves (90.2%) was the way most used by population. Most respondents indicated that the plants were most cited for treating disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (81.4 %), followed by nervous system disorders (57.5 %). This study cited the total of 48 species of plants used by the population for medicinal purposes. Among these species, 20 plants are listed in RENISUS, which considered the plant species with potential to generate products of interest to the SUS. There was an indiscriminate use of products derived from medicinal plants, even in the absence of the desired effect, because the population does not consider the toxic potential of these plants, which detected some discrepancies between the intended uses, dosage form preparation and recommended by scientific literature. This study reveals the need for an extension of these studies involving other ESFs, as well as the need for approaches that value / rescue popular knowledge about the use of medicinal plants.