title: Use of complementary and alternative medicine in healthy children and children with chronic medical conditions in Germany.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in children is common and probably increasing. However little is known about differences between healthy and chronically ill children with a focus on prevalence, reasons for use/non-use, costs, adverse effects and socio-demographic factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire-based survey with 500 participants visiting the outpatient clinic of the University Children's Hospital Homburg, Germany was conducted over a 4-week period in 2004. Recruitment was stopped when 500 questionnaires were handed out in total.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 405 (81%) respondents (242 with chronic conditions, 163 healthy children incidentally visiting the hospital for minor ailments) 229 (57%) reported lifetime CAM use (59% with chronic conditions versus 53% healthy children). Among CAM users the most prevalent therapies were homeopathy (25%), herbal remedies (8%), anthroposophic medicine (7%), vitamin preparations (6%) and acupuncture (5%). The main reasons for use were to strengthen the immune system, physical stabilisation and to increase healing chances/maintain health. Socio-demographic factors associated with CAM use were tertiary education (mother: p=0.017; father: p>0.001), higher family income (p=0.001) and being Protestant (p=0.01). Expectations towards CAM were high and most parents would recommend certain CAM (94%). 79% of the users informed a physician about CAM use. Side effects were rarely reported (4%), minor and self-limiting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical care and the physician-patient relation would benefit from an enhanced understanding of CAM and a greater candidness towards the parental needs. The safety and efficacy especially of CAM with high prevalence rates should be determined in rigorous basic and clinical researches.
authors.affiliation: Center for Palliative Care and Pediatric Pain Medicine, Saarland University, Kirrbergerstr., 66421 Homburg, Germany. kisgot@uniklinikum-saarland.de
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gottschling
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gronwald
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Längler
authors.forename: Eberhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leidig
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baan
authors.forename: M Ghiath
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Shamdeen
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berrang
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Graf
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006262:Health; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012016:Reference Values; D012067:Religion; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires