CAM use is common among families with autistic children.

CHICAGO -- The use of complementary and alternative medicine is very common among children with autistic spectrum disorders, according to two poster presentations at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Seventy-four percent of the 112 families of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) from Children's Hospital in Boston reported having used some type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A Canadian study showed 91% of 183 families surveyed had used a CAM of any type.

"People are doing a lot of things that they aren't telling their pediatrician about, unless they ask," Leonard Rappaport, M.D., director of the developmental medicine center at Children's Hospital, Boston, said. "This is something that needs to be reinforced continually with pediatricians."

The most common CAM therapies were modified diet (38%), vitamins/minerals (30%), food supplements (23%), and prayer/shaman (16%), according to the Boston study, led by Ellen Hanson, Ph.D.

"No one in our group would say there is a cure for autistic spectrum disorders, but if you go online you'll find 20-30 sites that say there is a potential cure," Dr. Rappaport said. "I doubt any of these things work appreciably, but it helps the family find some peace when they are working so hard to help their children."

The most frequently used interventions were conventional therapies such as educational techniques (89%), sensory therapies (71%), and prescription drugs (50%). CAM use was associated with having a more severe form of ASD. There was some suggestion that CAM use was associated with longer time since diagnosis, and with higher education level in mothers.

Very few families reported that any of the interventions were harmful. Most reported that their chief considerations when choosing CAM were unacceptable side effects with prescription medications, or concern about the side effects and safety of prescription medications.

In a separate presentation, a cross-sectional survey of a study population of children aged 3-18 years (mean 8.9 years) diagnosed with any ASD in southern Alberta showed that the most common types of CAM used were vitamins and minerals (63%), mind-body therapies (51%), dietary-nutritional therapies (48%), natural therapies such as St. John's wort, Kava, and homeopathy (39%), and anti-yeast therapies (31%).

The most common reasons for CAM use were: to improve symptoms of autism (43%), to improve mental and emotional well-being (39%), to improve health (36%), a belief it could not hurt (28%), a belief that conventional medicine did not have any answers (22%), and a belief in holistic health (20%).

"Only 10% of families used CAM because they wanted to heal their child of ASD, so this is a pretty aware population," said lead investigator W. Ben Gibbard, M.D., of the University of Calgary (Alt.).

The mean number of therapies used was 10, but "some patients are up to 80 therapies that they've tried," Dr. Gibbard said.

BY PATRICE WENDLING

Chicago Bureau