Curr Opin Pediatr. 2000 Aug; 12(4): 298-302.

Recent review of complementary and alternative medicine used by adolescents.

Gardiner P, Wornham W.

Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

In the past decade the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has dramatically increased in adult, adolescent, and pediatric populations in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. There are multiple reasons for this, including the search for natural therapies, curative and ameliorative therapies for chronic illnesses that are unresponsive to conventional therapy, attraction to therapists or alternative modalities suggested by friends, and the autonomy of obtaining unregulated products and services. This review will address recent studies concerning adolescent use of specific CAM therapies for asthma, urinary tract infections, headaches, dietary supplements in athletes, and mental health conditions. Health care providers need to be aware of the CAM therapies their patients are using, the potential side effects, and the possibilities for including effective complementary therapies into the conventional care they provide.