A comparative study on the use of medicinal plants in the pediatric population

Title

Poster

Description

Mila Dragomirova, Anely Nedelcheva
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy

Subject

An important nowadays problem is the development of quality, safe and effective medicinal products intended for pediatric use. A number of documents identify the problems related to this group of patients at the European level, and at the same time require an analysis of their condition in the various communities, including the regional specifics in an ethnomedical aspect. Responding to this, the present study focuses on the use of medicinal plant products in the pediatric population in Bulgaria. A comparative analysis of traditional knowledge and their use according to modern concepts and approaches in medicine is presented. The results of an ethnobotanical study on the use of plants in the treatment of children in Bulgarian folk medicine are also presented. The total number of 119 plant species and the herbal substances and herbal preparations obtained from them (146) were analyzed, including both with traditional uses and well-established uses. The species contraindicated for use in the pediatric population are differentiated and the groups with different degrees of restrictions in use are defined. Biologically active substances are discussed, according to the data on the manifestation of adverse reactions and their use in the target group. The study confirms the need for an extensive analysis of the plant species used in the products for pediatric use and a study of their Bulgarian populations to detect potentially significant species from the gene pool. Furthermore, the need of knowledge about their safe use is confirmed.
The authors are grateful to the financial support of Bulgarian NSF at the Ministry of Education and Science, Contract 2901/KP-06-China/15/2020.
Keywords: Herbal substances, herbal preparations, medical ethnobotany