Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
J Child Neurol. 2020 Jul;35(8):512-516. doi: 10.1177/0883073820913670. Epub 2020 Apr 1.
Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric condition defined by motor and phonic tics with onset in childhood. Many families have concerns regarding potential side effects of pharmacologic treatments, and often have difficulty accessing comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics. Patients and caregivers may turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as they perceive these as "natural" and therefore "safe." Although there are anecdotal reports of an increased use of CAM in Tourette syndrome patients, the exact prevalence is unknown.
The purpose of this study was to identify commonly used CAM therapies for children with Tourette syndrome at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
A questionnaire was administered to the caregivers of children (<18 years old) via telephone. The data pertaining to demographics, type of CAM use, duration of use, adverse effects, and caregiver's perception of the effectiveness were collected.
A total of 110 patients participated in this survey. When inquired about the different CAM methods, 69.1% of the participants reported using 1 or more CAM therapies, and 58% of those who used CAM informed the doctor about their use. Ninety-three percent of those who used CAM therapy reported a decrease in tic frequency. The most commonly used CAM therapies were stress management (44.6%), herbal medicine (18.2%), homeopathy (12.7%), and meditation (9.1%). In total, 46% of the participants said that CAM helped more than medication.
The majority of patients interviewed were using CAM therapies, and a significant portion reported benefit greater than medication. More than half of all participants discussed CAM therapies with their physicians, and 63% of participants felt that their physicians would support their use of CAM therapies.
妥瑞氏症是一种神经精神疾病，其特征是儿童时期出现运动性和发声性抽搐。许多家庭对药物治疗的潜在副作用表示担忧，并且通常难以获得全面的抽搐行为干预。患者及其照顾者可能会转而选择补充和替代医学（CAM），因为他们认为这些是“天然的”，因此是“安全的”。尽管有轶事报道称妥瑞氏症患者越来越多地使用 CAM，但确切的流行率尚不清楚。
本研究旨在确定宾夕法尼亚州立 Hershey 医疗中心患有妥瑞氏症的儿童中常用的 CAM 疗法。
通过电话向儿童（<18 岁）的照顾者发放问卷。收集有关人口统计学、CAM 使用类型、使用时间、不良反应以及照顾者对疗效的看法的数据。
共有 110 名患者参加了这项调查。当询问不同的 CAM 方法时，69.1%的参与者报告使用了 1 种或多种 CAM 疗法，其中 58%使用 CAM 的人告知了医生他们的使用情况。93%使用 CAM 治疗的人报告抽搐频率降低。最常用的 CAM 疗法是压力管理（44.6%）、草药（18.2%）、顺势疗法（12.7%）和冥想（9.1%）。总的来说，46%的参与者表示 CAM 比药物治疗更有效。
接受采访的大多数患者正在使用 CAM 疗法，并且很大一部分人报告说 CAM 疗法的效果优于药物治疗。超过一半的参与者与他们的医生讨论了 CAM 疗法，63%的参与者认为他们的医生会支持他们使用 CAM 疗法。
