Herbal Therapy in Primary Health Care in Maracanaú, Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

Data support the use of herbal therapy in primary health care in Maracanaú. However, there is a need to conduct further study on the efficacy and safety of these herbal medicines, as well as on their quality control.

Aspects of Quality of Primary Care Provided by Physicians Certified in Phytotherapy in Switzerland

“…This, however, would have to be studied in a future trial. Other surveys about the pattern of use of herbal medicine in primary care are hardly comparable with the present study due to different study designs and health care systems: a Brazilian survey that examined more or less the effect of a herbal therapy program meant to bridge lacking basic medical supply [17]; a cross-sectional survey that searched for possible different ethnic patterns of use of herbal drugs in a multiethnic population of a large US-American metropolitan area [18]; or the surveys in a Swedish health center [16] or among general practitioners in Scotland [19] which focused on the concomitant use of herbs. …”

“…To date, only few studies focusing on the evaluation of efficacy of phytotherapy in primary care are available worldwide. Mostly, they examine patients' characteristics [16][17][18] and seldom those of physicians [19]. A comparison of the existing studies is hardly possible, due to the differing health care systems, study designs and cultures where phytotherapy was used.…”

Complementary and alternative medicine in Brazilian children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus

“…The most commonly used herbs were "pata de vaca" (Bauhinia forficata L.), vegetable insulin (Cissus sicyoides L.), passion flower (Passiflora sp) and a compound of several herbs. As each country has its native flora, the herbs used routinely in the diabetes treatment vary from country to country [3,8,15,[27][28][29]. In Brazil, "pata de vaca" and insulin are widely spread as CAM for diabetes [15,29].…”

“…As each country has its native flora, the herbs used routinely in the diabetes treatment vary from country to country [3,8,15,[27][28][29]. In Brazil, "pata de vaca" and insulin are widely spread as CAM for diabetes [15,29]. For "pata de vaca", the studies are contradictory regarding the reduction of blood sugar levels [30,31].…”

“…In Brazil, there are no data on the use of this type of therapy in pediatric patients with T1DM, although the use of medicinal plants is popular in the country and plays a key role in primary health care [15,16]. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the epidemiology of CAM use in children and adolescents with T1DM, as well as building a profile of those users.…”