title: Use of complementary and alternative medicine by pediatric rheumatology patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess how often the patients in The Hospital for Sick Children's rheumatology clinic use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and the type of CAM used.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional descriptive survey study in a tertiary care referral center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that 90 (64%) of 141 respondents used at least 1 form of CAM; 45 (50%) of these 90 used more than 1 form. Duration of illness was positively associated with the use of CAM; the difference in the mean length of illness between users (4.12 +/- 3.60 years) and nonusers (2.82 +/- 3.23 years) was 1.3 years (P = 0.04). Of the 41 respondents with more than 1 illness, 32 used CAM, compared with 57 of 96 who had only 1 illness (P = 0.036).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health care providers must be aware of their patients' possible use of CAM, especially those with more than 1 illness.
authors.affiliation: The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. lorrie.hagen@sickkids.ca
authors.forename: Lorrie E M
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.forename: Rayfel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Modrusan
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Feldman
mesh_terms: D001168:Arthritis / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*