EVALUATION OF USAGE OF COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVETREATMENTS BY CHILDREN WITH ALLERGIC DISEASES
Abstract
BACKGROUND Allergic diseases impair quality of life of affected child and his family. Drugs which aregenerally used for treatment of allergic diseases significantly improve quality of life.However, patients are frequently unsatisfied so they try complementary or alternativemethods of treatment (CAMs). There are limited published data concerning the relative corticosteroid treatment and possible side effects of such treatment were the main reasonfor seeking CAMs. Alternative treatments were usually recommended by successfullytreated patient (P < 0.001).Conclusions We demonstrated in a group of Slovene children that the prevalence of the use of CAMs isvery high. The majority of children and their parents were satisfied with the treatment, butthere was no significant improvement of child’s health and the quality of life of the family.effect of CAMs in allergic children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalenceof the usage and the effectiveness of CAMs in a group of Slovene allergic children. METHODS Parents of 497 children under 15 years with allergic disease confirmed by allergy testingcompleted a questionnaire designed for the study about the use of different types of CAMs.They were asked about their educational level, place of residence, the reason of theirdecision for seeking CAMs, about their opinions regarding the effects of CAMs andimprovement of quality of their life. RESULTS The overall use of CAMs was 42.85 %. The most common treatment was bioresonance(59.2 %). The highest prevalence of the use of these treatments was in asthmatics (45.7 %)and it was higher among children coming from urban areas of Slovenia and amongthose with parents having education level of less than college (P < 0.001). Long-terDownloads
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