alternative medicine and asthma, what is the evidence?

Alternative Medicine and Asthma, What Is the Evidence?

Asthma, as an old disease known for centuries, has been described in medical literature from Greece, Egypt, Iran, China, India and other old nations. 1 It is an immunological process involving at least 14 cell types with more than 230 substances involved in the inflammatory processes. 2 Recent progress in molecular immunology and anecdotal clinical information has made it clear that in fact, as...

What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine?

Many Americans use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in pursuit of health and well-being. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey of CAM use by Americans, showed that approximately 38 percent of adults use CAM. This fact sheet presents an overview of CAM, types of CAM, summary information on safety and regulation, the mission of the Nat...

What is complementary and alternative medicine

What is complementary and alternative medicine?

What is evidence-based medicine?

effects and costs of a medication when deciding a specific treatment. Also, a specific patient may not fit the criteria for enrollment of patients into a randomized controlled trial (RCT). For example, an RCT demonstrated that rifaximin, a nonabsorbable antibiotic, improved bloating in Lebanese patients [3]. Will bloating (and other gastrointestinal symptoms) improve if rifaximin is used in pat...

What accounts for the appeal of complementary/alternative medicine, and what makes complementary/ alternative medicine "alternative"?

The goal of this study was to elucidate the basis for the appeal of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) and the basis upon which people distinguish between CAM and conventional medicine. Undergraduates (N = 173) rated 19 approaches to the treatment of chronic back pain on 16 rating scales. Data were analyzed via 3-mode factor analysis, which extracted conceptual dimensions common to both t...