Cargando…

Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children

BACKGROUND: Any intervention to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics for infections in children has the potential to reduce the selective pressure on antimicrobial resistance and minimise the medicalisation of self-limiting illness. Little is known about whether homeopathic products might be...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wye, Lesley, Hay, Alastair D, Northstone, Kate, Bishop, Jackie, Headley, Judith, Thompson, Elizabeth
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2270831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18234084
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-9-8
_version_ 1782151770639695872
author Wye, Lesley
Hay, Alastair D
Northstone, Kate
Bishop, Jackie
Headley, Judith
Thompson, Elizabeth
author_facet Wye, Lesley
Hay, Alastair D
Northstone, Kate
Bishop, Jackie
Headley, Judith
Thompson, Elizabeth
author_sort Wye, Lesley
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Any intervention to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics for infections in children has the potential to reduce the selective pressure on antimicrobial resistance and minimise the medicalisation of self-limiting illness. Little is known about whether homeopathic products might be used by some families as an alternative to antibiotics or the characteristics of such families. We used the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) observational dataset to explore the hypothesis that the use of homeopathic products is associated with reduced antibiotic use in pre-school children and to identify characteristics of the families of pre-school children given homeopathic products. METHODS: Questionnaires data were completed by the parents of 9723 children while aged between 3–4.5 years in Bristol UK. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to explore the relationships between antibiotic and homeopathic product use. RESULTS: Six percent of children had received one or more homeopathic products and 62% one or more antibiotics between the ages of 3 and 4.5 years. After adjustment for factors associated with antibiotic use, there was no association between homeopathic product and antibiotic use (adjusted OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.84, 1.24). Factors independently associated with child homeopathic product use were: higher maternal education, maternal use of homeopathic products, maternal lack of confidence in doctors, mothers reporting that they were less likely to see doctor when the child was ill, children being given vitamins, watching less television and suffering from wheeze and food allergies. CONCLUSION: In this observational study, the use of homeopathic products was not associated with decreased antibiotic consumption, suggesting the use of homeopathic product complements rather than competes with the use of antibiotics in pre-school children. The characteristics of mothers giving homeopathic products to their children are similar to those associated with adult self-administration.
format Text
id pubmed-2270831
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2008
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-22708312008-03-21 Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children Wye, Lesley Hay, Alastair D Northstone, Kate Bishop, Jackie Headley, Judith Thompson, Elizabeth BMC Fam Pract Research Article BACKGROUND: Any intervention to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics for infections in children has the potential to reduce the selective pressure on antimicrobial resistance and minimise the medicalisation of self-limiting illness. Little is known about whether homeopathic products might be used by some families as an alternative to antibiotics or the characteristics of such families. We used the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) observational dataset to explore the hypothesis that the use of homeopathic products is associated with reduced antibiotic use in pre-school children and to identify characteristics of the families of pre-school children given homeopathic products. METHODS: Questionnaires data were completed by the parents of 9723 children while aged between 3–4.5 years in Bristol UK. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to explore the relationships between antibiotic and homeopathic product use. RESULTS: Six percent of children had received one or more homeopathic products and 62% one or more antibiotics between the ages of 3 and 4.5 years. After adjustment for factors associated with antibiotic use, there was no association between homeopathic product and antibiotic use (adjusted OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.84, 1.24). Factors independently associated with child homeopathic product use were: higher maternal education, maternal use of homeopathic products, maternal lack of confidence in doctors, mothers reporting that they were less likely to see doctor when the child was ill, children being given vitamins, watching less television and suffering from wheeze and food allergies. CONCLUSION: In this observational study, the use of homeopathic products was not associated with decreased antibiotic consumption, suggesting the use of homeopathic product complements rather than competes with the use of antibiotics in pre-school children. The characteristics of mothers giving homeopathic products to their children are similar to those associated with adult self-administration. BioMed Central 2008-01-30 /pmc/articles/PMC2270831/ /pubmed/18234084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-9-8 Text en Copyright © 2008 Wye et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wye, Lesley
Hay, Alastair D
Northstone, Kate
Bishop, Jackie
Headley, Judith
Thompson, Elizabeth
Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title_full Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title_fullStr Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title_full_unstemmed Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title_short Complementary or alternative? The use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
title_sort complementary or alternative? the use of homeopathic products and antibiotics amongst pre-school children
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2270831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18234084
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-9-8
work_keys_str_mv AT wyelesley complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren
AT hayalastaird complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren
AT northstonekate complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren
AT bishopjackie complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren
AT headleyjudith complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren
AT thompsonelizabeth complementaryoralternativetheuseofhomeopathicproductsandantibioticsamongstpreschoolchildren