Usage of Medicinal Plants and Phytotherapy Medicines by Elderly People who live with chronic noncommunicable Diseases

Abstract

This study had as goal to assess the use of medicinal plants and phytotherapy medicines by elderly people with chronic noncommunicable diseases. It is a descriptive study of quantitative approach, a section of the main extension project called "Education and interdisciplinary health practices for elderly people with chronic noncommunicable diseases approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) with opinion nº 2,960,922.The study comprised 40 elderly women with chronic noncommunicable diseases, enrolled in the elderly interaction group in a Higher Education Institution in the interior of Bahia. For data collection, there were used as instruments the sociodemographic and economic questionnaires and the questionnaire of medicinal plants and phytotherapy. Data analysis was carried out by using the program Statistical Package for Social Science - SPSS). It was noticed that 97.3% of the study’s participants said that they used medicinal plants and 81.11% phytotherapy medicines. In terms of the purpose of use, 49.2% said they use it as a lifelong habit acquired and 37.8% stated they used it for therapeutic purposes. It was evidenced that 56.8% of participants reported that they knew that by using these substances they could have some drug interaction and 59.5% said they knew that the use can lead to side effects. For 51.36% family influence was the primary motivation for the use. It was verified that the majority of elderly people stated they use medicinal plants and phytotherapy medicines because it represent the lifelong habit acquired, especially by the family environment what is required is the implementation of professional training actions, health education and the appreciation of traditional knowledge for a better understanding on the correct use of medicinal plants.