Alternative health treatments hinder asthma management: study

As reported by the National Post, a new Canadian study suggests that a sizable minority of child asthma patients rely on alternative treatments like acupuncture and homeopathy, and are more likely to have poor outcomes as a result.

The research by doctors associated with the University of Montreal looked at 2,000 children who came to the Montreal Children’s Hospital asthma centre between 1999 and 2007. About 13% were regular users of alternative therapies, the most common being vitamins, homeopathy and acupuncture. The most concerning finding was that those being treated with such methods were twice as likely to have poor control over their asthma. And the the children most likely to be under alternative care were less than six years old, the scientists’ paper in the Canadian Respiratory Journal says.

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