Complementary Therapies and Childhood Cancer
Complementary Therapies and Childhood Cancer
A growing number of pediatric cancer patients use complementary therapies as part of their treatment regimen to attempt to improve outcomes or enhance quality of life.
Background: The use of complementary and alternative therapies by children with cancer is common. Up to 84% of children have used complementary therapies along with conventional medical treatment for cancer.
Methods: We reviewed the PubMed and CINAHL databases for studies published between 1994 and 2004 on the use of complementary and alternative therapies by children with cancer and reports from any publication year through 2004 of clinical trials involving complementary and alternative therapies for children with cancer.
Results: Fourteen studies were retrieved reporting the results of survey or interview data collected from parents on children's use of complementary and alternative therapies during or after childhood cancer. Across studies, the use of such therapies ranged from 31% to 84%. Common reasons for using complementary and alternative therapies were to do everything possible for their child, to help with symptom management, and to boost the immune system. Many parents indicated they also hoped to treat or cure the cancer. In most cases, the child's treating physician had not been informed of the child's use of complementary and alternative therapies.
Conclusions: Use of complementary therapies by children with cancer is common, although methodological variations limit the ability to compare results across studies. Treating physicians often do not know the child is using complementary therapies in addition to medical treatments. The scientific evidence is limited regarding the effects and mechanisms of action of complementary or alternative therapies, but research is being conducted on these topics.
In the past decade, the results of several survey and interview studies have been published in which parents of a child diagnosed with cancer have been asked about their child's use of complementary or alternative therapies after the time of diagnosis. Results have indicated that 31% to 84% of children used some form of complementary therapy along with conventional medical therapy for cancer. Some portion of the range of responses is likely due to varied survey methods and definitions used across studies. For example, the terms unconventional, alternative, and complementary have been defined differently across studies.
This paper summarizes data published from 1994 to 2004 regarding complementary therapy use by children during and after childhood cancer. This time period was selected for review because increased scientific, medical, and public interest in complementary and alternative medicine was reflected in the opening of the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine in 1993. This office became the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1998. The National Cancer Institute's Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine was also established in 1998. Surveys and interview studies are discussed in chronological order by publication date. For each study discussed, the terms complementary, alternative, and unconventional are reproduced here as they were used by the investigators of the study. In addition, results of clinical trials of complementary therapies carried out in samples of children diagnosed with cancer are presented in order to understand the evidence base relating to complementary therapies in pediatric oncology samples. Research reports through the year 2004 were complied from PubMed, the database provided by the National Library of Medicine, and from CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature). Research reports are summarized using the organizational framework for five domains of complementary and alternative therapies delineated by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. These five domains include biologically based complementary therapies, manipulative and body-based therapies, mind-body interventions, alternative medical systems, and energy therapies. Specific search terms employed within each domain are presented in the section on clinical trials.
A growing number of pediatric cancer patients use complementary therapies as part of their treatment regimen to attempt to improve outcomes or enhance quality of life.
Background: The use of complementary and alternative therapies by children with cancer is common. Up to 84% of children have used complementary therapies along with conventional medical treatment for cancer.
Methods: We reviewed the PubMed and CINAHL databases for studies published between 1994 and 2004 on the use of complementary and alternative therapies by children with cancer and reports from any publication year through 2004 of clinical trials involving complementary and alternative therapies for children with cancer.
Results: Fourteen studies were retrieved reporting the results of survey or interview data collected from parents on children's use of complementary and alternative therapies during or after childhood cancer. Across studies, the use of such therapies ranged from 31% to 84%. Common reasons for using complementary and alternative therapies were to do everything possible for their child, to help with symptom management, and to boost the immune system. Many parents indicated they also hoped to treat or cure the cancer. In most cases, the child's treating physician had not been informed of the child's use of complementary and alternative therapies.
Conclusions: Use of complementary therapies by children with cancer is common, although methodological variations limit the ability to compare results across studies. Treating physicians often do not know the child is using complementary therapies in addition to medical treatments. The scientific evidence is limited regarding the effects and mechanisms of action of complementary or alternative therapies, but research is being conducted on these topics.
In the past decade, the results of several survey and interview studies have been published in which parents of a child diagnosed with cancer have been asked about their child's use of complementary or alternative therapies after the time of diagnosis. Results have indicated that 31% to 84% of children used some form of complementary therapy along with conventional medical therapy for cancer. Some portion of the range of responses is likely due to varied survey methods and definitions used across studies. For example, the terms unconventional, alternative, and complementary have been defined differently across studies.
This paper summarizes data published from 1994 to 2004 regarding complementary therapy use by children during and after childhood cancer. This time period was selected for review because increased scientific, medical, and public interest in complementary and alternative medicine was reflected in the opening of the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine in 1993. This office became the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1998. The National Cancer Institute's Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine was also established in 1998. Surveys and interview studies are discussed in chronological order by publication date. For each study discussed, the terms complementary, alternative, and unconventional are reproduced here as they were used by the investigators of the study. In addition, results of clinical trials of complementary therapies carried out in samples of children diagnosed with cancer are presented in order to understand the evidence base relating to complementary therapies in pediatric oncology samples. Research reports through the year 2004 were complied from PubMed, the database provided by the National Library of Medicine, and from CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature). Research reports are summarized using the organizational framework for five domains of complementary and alternative therapies delineated by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. These five domains include biologically based complementary therapies, manipulative and body-based therapies, mind-body interventions, alternative medical systems, and energy therapies. Specific search terms employed within each domain are presented in the section on clinical trials.
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