Tuberc Respir Dis.  2006 Oct;61(4):339-346.

The Current Status of Complementary-Alternative Medicine for Asthmatics in Korea: Experience in One Tertiary Care Hospital

• Hwang BY
• Park MN
• Choi HS
• Choi CW
• Yoo JH
• Kang HM
• Park MJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There has no known epidemiologic survey on the frequency of complementary-alternative medicine (CAM) use in the treatment of adult asthma in Korea. This study examined the current use of CAM by asthma patients in Korea.
METHODS
One hundred adults with asthma, who had been admitted to Kyunghee university hospital between January 2000 and December 2003, were enrolled in this survey. They received a structured questionnaire interview and a clinical assessment of prevalence and pattern of CAM use.
RESULTS
53% patients had an experience of at least one type of CAM during their asthma management. Users of CAM had more hospital visits than those who had never used CAM(1.46+/-0.68 vs. 2.11+/-1.20, p=0.001). Those in their 50th decades had more experience of CAM (80%) than the other age groups. The methods of CAM used by our patients are as follows: Diet/nutritional therapy in 35 patients(69%), herbal therapy in 28 patients(53%), acupuncture in 9 patients(17%), moxa treatment in 6 patients(11%), breathing exercises in 1 patient(2%).
CONCLUSIONS
More than 50% of patients with bronchial asthma have used CAM. A more detailed and large scaled study will be needed to define the actual status of the use of CAM in the treatment for asthma. Inaddition, further research on the scientific validation of the clinical efficacy of CAM in asthma management should be followed.

Keyword

Asthma; Complementary-alternative medicine; Epidemiology

MeSH Terms

Acupuncture
Adult
Asthma
Breathing Exercises
Epidemiology
Humans
Korea*
Phytotherapy
Prevalence
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tertiary Healthcare*

Figure

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  Figure 1 Frequency of complement and alternative medicine according to age

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  Figure 2 Method of CAM and the number of the patients. *localized heat and physical therapy

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