Reasons for referrals of children and adolescents to alternative medicine in southern Israel

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Chronically Ill Adolescents from 2 German Birth Cohorts

BACKGROUND

Pediatric use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular in Europe, and utilization may be even more prevalent in chronically ill children/adolescents. This study's aim is to assess CAM use among adolescents with chronic conditions.

METHODS

Data on drug utilization (past 4 weeks) and consultation with CAM providers (past year) were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 4,677 adolescents from the German GINIplus/LISAplus birth cohorts. All reported drugs were classified into therapeutic categories (conventional drugs, homeopathy, herbal drugs, etc.). Additionally, participants were asked to list any chronic diseases (that were parent-reported, physician-verified diagnoses such as allergies, atopic dermatitis, asthma, or other chronic diseases) that they had had over the previous 5 years.

RESULTS

Compared with the total sample, drug utilization in general (60.1% vs. 41.1%), homeopathy use (11.1% vs. 8.1%), and consultation with CAM providers (16.9% vs. 10.9%) was significantly more prevalent among chronically ill adolescents. However, chronically ill adolescents used relatively (proportion of the defined therapeutic category among all drugs used) more conventional drugs than healthy adolescents.

CONCLUSION

Compared with healthy adolescents, CAM use is more prevalent among adolescents with chronic conditions. Nevertheless, CAM may predominantly be used as a complementary treatment option rather than substituting conventional drugs.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture in preterm and term infants

The aim of the paper was to review the literature about safety and efficiency of acupuncture therapy in term and preterm infants. We searched Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials using a predefined algorithm, reviewed abstracts from the Pediatric Academic Society annual meetings (2000–2012), and performed a manual search of references in narrative and systematic reviews. A total of 26 studies identified met our search criteria. Only 6 of these studies met our inclusion criteria; however, two studies had to be excluded because the manuscripts were published in Chinese. Hence, only four studies were included in our analysis. Three of the four studies evaluated the effects of acupuncture on infantile colic, and one assessed pain reduction during minor painful procedures in preterm babies. The limited data available suggests that acupuncture could be a safe nonpharmacologic treatment option for pain reduction in term and preterm infants and could also be a non-pharmacologic treatment option to treat infantile colic. Currently acupuncture in infants should be limited to clinical trials and studies evaluating short- and long-term effects and should be performed only by practitioners with adequate training and experience in neonatal/pediatric acupuncture.