Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use and Adherence With Pediatric Asthma Treatment Full Text
Pediatrics, 05/07/2012
Philp JC et al. – The data from this study suggest that Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is not necessarily “competitive” with conventional asthma therapies; families may incorporate different health belief systems simultaneously in their asthma management. As CAM use becomes more prevalent, it is important for physicians to ask about CAM use in a nonjudgmental fashion.
Methods- The authors used a retrospective cohort study design.
- Telephone surveys were administered to caregivers of patients with asthma annually from 2004 to 2007.
- Dependent variables were percent missed doses per week and a previously validated “Medication Adherence Scale score.”
- Independent variables included demographic factors, caregiver perception of asthma control, and initiation of CAM for asthma.
- From longitudinal data set of 1322 patients, they focused on 187 children prescribed daily medications for all 3 years of study.
- Patients had high rates of adherence. The mean percent missed asthma daily controller medication doses per week was 7.7% (SD = 14.2%).
- Medication Adherence Scale scores (range: 4–20, with lower scores reflecting higher adherence) had an overall mean of 7.5 (SD = 2.9).
- In multivariate analyses, controlling for demographic factors and asthma severity, initiation of CAM use was not associated with subsequent adherence (P > .05).
