BACKGROUND:Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there are limited reports on safety and effectiveness of CAM in MS. Naturopathic medicine encompasses a broad range of CAM modalities and may improve quality of life in patients with MS. OBJECTIVE: To assess quality of life in MS subjects who received interventions designed to "model" the "whole practice" of naturopathy. DESIGN: A pilot, randomized, controlled study with a 6-month intervention period. PARTICIPANTS: Participants who met criteria for clinically definite MS. INTERVENTIONS: The 3 intervention arms were usual care, naturopathic medicine plus usual care, and MS education plus usual care. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was quality of life (36-item short form health survey [SF-36]). Secondary outcome measures included fatigue (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale); depression (Beck Depression Inventory); cognition battery (Stroop test and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test 3), and neurologic impairment (Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite). Adverse event reporting and laboratory measures were used to assess safety. RESULTS:Forty-five (45) participants (15 per group) were randomized and all completed the 6-month intervention. There were no significant differences between groups on any outcome measure. There was a trend in favoring the naturopathic group in the General Health subscale of the SF-36 (p = 0.11), Timed Walk (p = 0.11), and neurologic impairment (EDSS) (p = 0.07). There was a trend favoring the Education group in the Stroop attention test (p = 0.07). There was no difference between groups in adverse events or laboratory changes. CONCLUSIONS:Naturopathic medicine combined with usual care for MS showed a trend in improvement in the General Health subscale of the SF-36, Timed Walk, and neurologic impairment. Evaluation of naturopathic medicine, as a multimodality regimen, warrants further investigation.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), yet there are limited reports on safety and effectiveness of CAM in MS. Naturopathic medicine encompasses a broad range of CAM modalities and may improve quality of life in patients with MS. OBJECTIVE: To assess quality of life in MS subjects who received interventions designed to "model" the "whole practice" of naturopathy. DESIGN: A pilot, randomized, controlled study with a 6-month intervention period. PARTICIPANTS: Participants who met criteria for clinically definite MS. INTERVENTIONS: The 3 intervention arms were usual care, naturopathic medicine plus usual care, and MS education plus usual care. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was quality of life (36-item short form health survey [SF-36]). Secondary outcome measures included fatigue (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale); depression (Beck Depression Inventory); cognition battery (Stroop test and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test 3), and neurologic impairment (Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite). Adverse event reporting and laboratory measures were used to assess safety. RESULTS: Forty-five (45) participants (15 per group) were randomized and all completed the 6-month intervention. There were no significant differences between groups on any outcome measure. There was a trend in favoring the naturopathic group in the General Health subscale of the SF-36 (p = 0.11), Timed Walk (p = 0.11), and neurologic impairment (EDSS) (p = 0.07). There was a trend favoring the Education group in the Stroop attention test (p = 0.07). There was no difference between groups in adverse events or laboratory changes. CONCLUSIONS: Naturopathic medicine combined with usual care for MS showed a trend in improvement in the General Health subscale of the SF-36, Timed Walk, and neurologic impairment. Evaluation of naturopathic medicine, as a multimodality regimen, warrants further investigation.
Authors: Graziella Filippini; Luca Munari; Barbara Incorvaia; George C Ebers; Chris Polman; Roberto D'Amico; George P A Rice Journal: Lancet Date: 2003-02-15 Impact factor: 79.321
Authors: Jacob Hill; Wendy Hodsdon; Jacob Schor; Neil McKinney; Daniel Rubin; Dugald Seely; Gurdev Parmar; Tim Birdsall; Lise Alschuler; Davis Lamson; Shauna Birdsall; Heather Zwickey Journal: Integr Cancer Ther Date: 2015-07-24 Impact factor: 3.279
Authors: Babita Bisht; Warren G Darling; Ruth E Grossmann; E Torage Shivapour; Susan K Lutgendorf; Linda G Snetselaar; Michael J Hall; M Bridget Zimmerman; Terry L Wahls Journal: J Altern Complement Med Date: 2014-01-29 Impact factor: 2.579