Ernst E
Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, 25 Victoria Park Road, Exeter, EX2 4NT UK.
J Am Aging Assoc. 2002 Jan;25(1):11-20. doi: 10.1007/s11357-002-0002-3.
Unconventional therapies are increasingly popular, not least in populations of elderly individuals. This review summarizes the evidence regarding the risk unconventional therapies may entail for the elderly. Computerized literature searches were performed to locate all reports with original data on this topic. Most of the evidence found was anecdotal by nature and thus has obvious limitations. The results show that elderly patients can suffer harm from unconventional therapies. Herbal treatments are associated most frequently with adverse events. They can cause both direct toxicity and unwanted herb-drug interactions. Acupuncture, spinal manipulation and even massage therapy have also been implicated. Indirect risks exist if unconventional therapies are employed as a substitute for conventional treatments. It is concluded that unconventional therapies are not risk-free for elderly patients. All parties involved ought to be educated with a view of minimizing this risk, and more research is needed to increase our understanding of this area.
非传统疗法越来越受欢迎,尤其是在老年人群体中。本综述总结了有关非传统疗法可能给老年人带来风险的证据。通过计算机文献检索来查找所有关于该主题的有原始数据的报告。所发现的大多数证据本质上都是轶事性的,因此有明显的局限性。结果表明,老年患者可能会因非传统疗法而受到伤害。草药治疗最常与不良事件相关。它们既可能导致直接毒性,也可能引发不良的草药 - 药物相互作用。针灸、脊柱推拿甚至按摩疗法也被认为有牵连。如果将非传统疗法用作传统治疗的替代品,则存在间接风险。得出的结论是,非传统疗法对老年患者并非没有风险。所有相关方都应该接受教育,以尽量减少这种风险,并且需要更多的研究来增进我们对这一领域的了解。