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Comparative Study
. 2017 Sep-Oct;17(7):785-793.
doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2017.02.008. Epub 2017 Feb 21.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by Children With Pain in the United States

Cornelius B Groenewald  1 , Sarah E Beals-Erickson  2 , Jaime Ralston-Wilson  3 , Jennifer A Rabbitts  3 , Tonya M Palermo  4
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by Children With Pain in the United States

Cornelius B Groenewald et al. Acad Pediatr. 2017 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objective: Chronic pain is reported by 15% to 25% of children. Growing evidence from clinical samples suggests that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies are desired by families and may benefit some children with pain conditions. The objective of this study was to provide estimates of CAM use by children with pain in the United States.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate patterns, predictors, and perceived benefits of CAM use among children 4 to 17 years of age with and without painful conditions in the United States. We used chi-square tests to compare the prevalence rates of CAM use among children with pain to CAM use among children without pain. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with CAM use within the group of children with pain conditions.

Results: Parents reported that 26.6% of children had pain conditions (eg, headache, abdominal, musculoskeletal pain) in the past year; of these children, 21.3% used CAM. In contrast, only 8.1% of children without pain conditions used CAM (χ2, P < .001). CAM use among children with pain was associated with female sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.49, P = .005), higher income (aOR = 1.61, P = .027), and presence of 4+ comorbidities (aOR = 2.01, P = .013). Among children with pain who used CAM, the 2 most commonly used CAM modalities were biology-based therapies (47.3%) (eg, special diets and herbal supplements) and manipulative or body-based therapies (46.3%) (eg, chiropractic and massage).

Conclusions: CAM is frequently used by children with pain in the United States, and many parents report benefits for their child's symptoms.

Keywords: complementary and alternative medicine; integrative medicine; pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Perceived benefits from CAM use reported by parents of children with pain. This figure presents the percentage of the top 3 CAM modalities used by children with pain and the perceived benefits reported by parents (n=565).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reasons reported for CAM use by children with pain. This figure shows the percent of the top 3 CAM modalities used to address painful conditions that were used for the reasons given (n=565).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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