Complementary and alternative medicine in children with asthma.
BACKGROUND
The popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), particularly for chronic conditions such as asthma, is growing rapidly, but little is known about its use in asthmatic children.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the extent, characteristics, and possible predictors of CAM use in a group of Turkish children with asthma.


METHODS
The parents of asthmatic children were invited to participate in a questionnaire-based survey of 13 worldwide and 5 local methods of CAM. Current asthma treatment, asthma exacerbations, emergency admittances and hospitalizations due to exacerbations, and parental education levels were investigated as predictors that influenced the use of CAM.


RESULTS
Of the 304 asthmatic children (mean +/- SEM age, 10.5 +/- 0.2 years; range, 1-16 years), 49% (n = 150) had used some form of CAM previously, and 38% had used CAM within the previous year. The most popular forms of CAM were quail eggs (79%), herbal medicine (31%), Turkish wild honey (26%), speleotherapy (5%), and royal jelly (5%). The respondents learned about CAM through friends (61%), relatives (25%), the media (9%), and physicians (6%). Age, sex, and mother's and father's education levels were insignificant between the groups that used and did not use CAM (P = 0.40, P = 0.18, P = 0.15, and P = 0.09, respectively). The use of regular asthma treatment, the use of inhaled corticosteroids, asthma exacerbations, emergency admittances, and treatment score were significantly high in the CAM group (P = 0.006, P = 0.03, P = 0.008, P = 0.02, and P = 0.02, respectively). A significantly high percentage of respondents in the CAM group had considered using CAM for their child's asthma in the future (P = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Asthmatic children in whom the disease is not well controlled are more likely to use CAM as complementary therapy.
Orhan
Fazil
F
Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Allergy and Asthma, Ankara, Turkey.
Sekerel
Bulent Enis
BE
Kocabas
Can Naci
CN
Sackesen
Cansin
C
Adalioglu
Gonul
G
Tuncer
Ayfer
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007229:Infant Welfare; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey