Medicinal plants and their gynecologic indications: a case study with women living in Quixadá city, Ceará state, Brazil

Abstract

Medicinal plants of gynecological use are an important resource for women, especially in small communities, where plants still represent the main therapeutic resource. We aimed to identify the plants used by women residing in Quixadá city, semiarid region of Ceará state, Northeastern Brazil. Fifty women were selected by the intentional non-probability method and structured interviews were performed using standardized forms with questions about the plants used, therapeutic indications, plant parts used, modes of preparation, sites of acquisition, knowledge sources, and reasons for use. The relative importance index (RI) and informant consensus factor (ICF) were used to analyze and synthesize information. Were catalogued 31 plant families, 49 genera, and 50 species; 27 of those species are effectively used for: menstrual cramps (ICF = 0.8), gynecological inflammations (ICF = 0.7), contraception (ICF = 0.6), womb wounding (ICF = 0.2), fibroids (ICF = 0.2), and micropolycystic ovaries (ICF = 0.1). On the other hand, 26 species were cited as potentially abortive (ICF = 0.4). Mexican tea (Chenopodium ambrosioides L.), Mexican mint (Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour) Spreng.), air plant (Bryophyllum calycinum Salisb.), and ‘aroeira’ (Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão) showed the highest relative importance indexes (RI > 1.75). The most common plant parts used, mode of preparation, and way of  knowledge sharing were: stems/leaves, tea, and vertical oral transmission, respectively. The main forms of acquisition were home gardens, street fairs, and native vegetation. The reasons for use were: effectiveness, low cost, and the distance from conventional health centers. Our data confirms literature reports, except for the number of abortive plants, which was higher than in countries such as Iran (10 spp.) and South Africa (2 spp.). We concluded that medicinal plants are important to the interviewed women, especially since 100% of them do not hold annual gynecological consultations yet use medicinal plants at least every six months.