Interações entre plantas medicinais e medicamentos em portadores de hipertensão arterial sistêmica e diabetes mellitus.

Abstract

Diseases such as Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) impact the population's life quality. The use of medicinal plants as an alternative or additional treatment to pharmacological ones has been growing. However, the lack of information about plants’ medicinal properties, drug interactions and the lack of knowledge of health professionals about the use are worrying factors of self-medication. The objectives of this study were to identify the main classes of conventional medicines and medicinal plants used by patients with SAH and/or DM, registered in the Hiperdia Minas Program, assisted by two Family Health Strategies from Governador Valadares, MG, to characterize these users and research the possible interactions between the most used plants and conventional drug therapy. Of the respondents, 66.2% have SAH, 9% DM and 24.8% both pathologies. The majority (52.4%) use medicinal plants and 46.2% are subjected to some type of plant-drug interaction. The use of Baccharis trimera, Allium sativum, Rosmarinus officinalis or Plectranthus barbatus associated with antihypertensive drugs may result in hypotension by pharmacodynamic or effect interaction, in addition to alteration in metabolization through pharmacokinetic interaction. The association of Allium sativum and/or Matricaria chamomilla with oral antidiabetics may result in an interaction effect leading to hypoglycemia. Therefore, the assessment of plant-drug interactions is a very effective tool in preventing undesirable effects, supporting the conduct of health professionals and contributing to the rational use of medicinal plants.