Introduction: Medicinal plants have great potential for use by patients with rheumatological
diseases. These patients, in general, may regularly present physical disability, lower
productivity and quality of life, and often seek complementary alternative therapies. Therefore,
it’s important to carry out studies that seek to know the socio-demographic profile and the use
of medicinal plants by these patients. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional observational
study, in which the data were obtained by applying a questionnaire to 100 patients in the waiti ng
room of the Rheumatology outpatient clinic. The answers provided by the patients were
evaluated and organized using the Microsoft Office Excel 2016 program. Results: Among the
100 patients interviewed, 84% were women, 53% of those interviewed were over 59 years old
and 74% responded that they lived in Belém. The use of medicinal plants was reported by 76%
of patients. When asked about their opinions on medicinal plants, 60% responded that they
believed that plants “because they are natural, they are not harmful” and 69% responded that
they can “help conventional treatment”. In addition, 74% said they did not inform the doctor
about the use of medicinal plants and 85.5% said they did not inform themselves with health
professionals before starting to consume them. Discussion: Most respondents were women,
over 59 years old and residing in Belém, which can be attributed to the demographic profile of
rheumatological diseases, which affects more women and older ages. In addition, 85.5% of the
individuals interviewed said they did not get information from any health professional, which
is worrying as the elderly are more vulnerable to drug interactions due to polypharmacy.
Conclusion: It is concluded that a considerable percentage of patients routinely consume
medicinal plant-based products, especially patients over 50 years of age, with low education
and in order to improve the symptoms of rheumatological diseases, such as pain. Thus, it is
essential to invest in research with medicines derived from plants, to prove or discard their
benefit, in addition to showing the population the correct way to use these medicines.
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