Poor-quality evidence supporting colic treatment with complementary and alternative medicine
MONDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Evidence supporting the notion that complementary and alternative medicines may be useful for curing infantile colic is limited and of poor quality, according to a systematic review published online March 28 in Pediatrics.
Rachel Perry, from Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, U.K., and colleagues analyzed 15 randomized clinical trials of complementary and alternative medicines and supplements for infantile colic identified up to February 2010. Two independent reviewers extracted the data, and evaluated methodological quality using the Jadad score and key aspects of the Cochrane risk of bias.
The researchers identified 13 placebo-controlled studies and found eight with good methodological quality. A significant result favoring complementary and alternative medicine was found in eleven trials, but none of these were flawless. Most modalities did not have independent replication.
"The notion that any form of complementary and alternative medicine is effective for infantile colic is currently not supported from the evidence from the included randomized clinical trials. Additional replications are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn," the authors write.
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