A surprisingly large number of children -- nearly 12% -- are using herbal supplements and other complementary and alternative therapies, according to the first national study on the subject, released Wednesday.
"We were struck by the high use in children," given that few children suffer from the chronic aches and pains that drive many adults to unconventional treatments, says co-author Richard Nahin of the National Institutes of Health.
Doctors once defined complementary and alternative therapies -- which can range from acupuncture to echinacea tablets -- as ones that lacked the strong evidence that supports conventional medicine. Recent research has given doctors more information about which therapies work, says Kathi Kemper, a professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the new report.
Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional care, while complementary medicine is used alongside it, she says.
Kids are five times as likely to try unconventional therapies if their parents also use them, according to the survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIH, which included 23,393 adults and 9,417 children. About 38% of adults have used complementary and alternative medicine in the past year, the study shows.
Children used these therapies most often for back or neck pain, colds, anxiety or stress, other muscle and skeletal problems and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, the study shows. They're more likely to use complementary and alternative therapies if they see the doctor a lot and if they have ongoing medical problems, the report shows.
Authors note that their study may underestimate use in kids, because teenagers who try such therapies may not tell their parents.
The number of children using such therapies also would have been higher if researchers had included prayer, vitamins, minerals or home remedies, says Kemper, lead author of an article on children and complementary medicine in the December Pediatrics.
It's crucial for parents and doctors to discuss all treatments that children use, especially because many complementary and alternative treatments aren't regulated and haven't been scientifically tested for safety, says Edward Cox, a Michigan pediatrician who led a task force on complementary and alternative medicine for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Pediatrics study found that only one in three parents tell pediatricians when their kids are using these therapies. In many cases, however, researchers have studied these therapies only on adults.
Alternative practitioners also may not have experience with children, Cox says.
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