HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Please note: All posters will be displayed in Salons 10-12.

THURSDAY, 5:30-6:15 PM

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Goldman RD, Komar L, Vohra S.

Complementary and alternative medicine use by children visiting a pediatric emergency department.

Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children ran.goldman@sickkids.ca

OBJECTIVES: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) utilization is constantly on the rise among adults and children. The aim of this study was to identify CAM use by children visiting an urban large pediatric Emergency Department, with specific emphasis to include non-English speaking families.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study of children <16 years using quasi-randomized sampling, conducting a face-to-face 15-minute interview about using CAM in the preceding three months. Trained translators interviewed families who preferred to speak in Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin.

RESULTS: Of 1804 families, 876 (49%) used at least one type of Natural Health Products (NHP) or CAM practice. Of these, 746 (85%) used at least one NHP, 47 (5%) children used at least one CAM practice, and 83 (9%) used both. Of children using NHP, 392 (45%) used only vitamin supplementation. In a logistic regression analysis the variables found associated with increased NHP/CAM utilization among our children were child's chronic illness (OR=1.337, 95% CI 1.06-1.69), older age (OR=0.995, 95% CI 0.994-0.997), maternal education of college or more (OR=0.662, 95% CI 0.53-0.82) and speaking English at home (OR=0.682, 95% CI 0.56-0.83).

CONCLUSIONS: Children presenting to a tertiary care ED consume NHP and utilize CAM practices at a significantly higher rate than previously reported. Older children, with chronic illness, from English speaking families are the most likely to use NHP/CAM, but even children without chronic illness use CAM/NHP at higher rates than reported previously. It is imperative that health care providers include questions inquiring about CAM/NHP use as part of their routine history-taking.

 

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