Researchers found complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is common in autism treatment; and parents with higher education levels and income are more likely to opt for this type of treatment for their children.
Many parents turn to unconventional treatments such as mind-body medicine (such as prayer and meditation), medicinal dietary choices, probiotics, homeopathic medicine, vitamin B-12 injections, and " intravenous immunoglobulin or chelation therapy." Some of these treatment (especially the more invasive of the options) can carry significant risk, a University of California- Davis Health System.
"In our Northern California study population, it does not appear that families use complementary and alternative treatments due to the lack of availability of conventional services, as has been suggested by other research," Robin Hansen, director of the Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the MIND Institute and chief of the Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics in the UC Davis School of Medicine. "Rather, they use the treatments in addition to conventional approaches."
There is currently no cure for autism, but certain treatments can help improve the patients' lifestyle and social function. Autism can also come with a range of symptoms that are not necessarily related to the disorder such as: "irritability, hyperactivity, gastrointestinal problems and sleep disorders."
The researchers looked at 600 patients between the ages of two and five years who struggled with autism and developmental delay. Out of the study subjects 453 had been diagnosed with autism and 125 with developmental delay.
The team found CAM was employed in 40 percent of children who had been diagnosed with autism and 30 percent of those who had other developmental disorders. Close to seven percent of children with autism were on gluten-free/casein-free diets.
"We were pleased to find that most families utilizing CAM therapies were choosing ones that were low risk," Kathleen Angkustsiri, assistant professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics and a study co-author said.
About four percent of the study subjects were using "risky" methods of treatment such as "antifungal medications, chelation therapy and vitamin B-12 injections," the news release reported.
"Our study suggests that pediatricians and other providers need to ask about CAM use in the context of providing care for children with autism and other developmental disorders, and take a more active role in helping families make decisions about treatment options based on available information related to potential benefits and risks," Roger Scott Akins, lead author and a former postdoctoral fellow at the MIND Institute, who now is chairman of the Division of Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va. said.
"These findings emphasize the enormous and urgent need for effective treatments and for rigorous research that can identify them and verify their effectiveness and safety," Hertz-Picciotto said. "Of course it is reasonable for parents to keep searching for ways to help their children, when there are few effective treatments and none that can help every child."
