RESUMO
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to verify the use of medicinal plants by pregnant women treated at four Basic Health Units and at a public maternity facility in Brazil's northeast. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative study, performed between February and April 2014. The subjects were 178 pregnant women, aged 18 to 42 years. To collect data, a structured questionnaire with dichotomous and multiple choice questions was used. To verify the correlation between the variables, Pearson's chi-square test was used. RESULTS: The study showed that 30.9% of the pregnant women used medicinal plants, and boldo was the most cited (35.4%). All the plants utilized, except lemongrass, have toxic effects in pregnancy, according to Resolution SES/RJ N° 1757. There was no statistically significant correlation between social class and use of medicinal plants. CONCLUSION: The health of the study participants and their unborn children is at risk due to the inappropriate use of medicinal plants.
