Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by ADHD Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to review the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and its different used types, characteristics of the studied cohorts, the reasoning for CAM use, and possible predictive factors for its use amongst ADHD patients. Method: The Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, and Scopus were searched from inception to 10 February 2022. All of the original papers published in English which report data on CAM use by patients with ADHD were included. Results: Twelve original researches including 4,447 patients were included. The prevalence of CAM use varied from 7.5% to 67.6%. The most-reported CAM modalities were dietary modifications and natural products. Moreover, higher parental education should be considered as a predictive factor for CAM use. Conclusion: CAM use by ADHD patients seems to be prevalent. Healthcare providers should be trained about the most commonly used CAM therapies and their possible adverse events.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses: Safety and Efficacy of Complementary and Alternative Treatments for Pediatric Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“…Because of the increase in CAT use worldwide over the past decade, 10 providers need knowledge about CAT efficacy and safety to promote informed consumer practices. However, there are few comprehensive references on the safety and efficacy of CATs.…”

“…Several past reviews of CATs have used broader inclusion criteria to emphasize external validity at the expense of internal validity, such as using cutpoints to diagnose ADHD, accepting community or parentreported diagnoses, including quasiexperimental or pre-post designs, and interpreting effects from nonblinded studies. 8,10 We see value in both the broad and narrow approaches to study inclusion criteria; however, with the proliferation of CATs for ADHD, we opted for an approach using stricter inclusion criteria to require higher quality study designs and provide more precise results. For each CAT domain, we evaluated the efficacy and risk of harm.…”

“…CAT usage among patients with ADHD ranges from 12% to 64%. 6,[8][9][10] Despite this, only 10% of parents disclose CAT use to physicians, 11 and many do not believe that their physicians are knowledgeable (38%) or interested in CATs (,50%). 12…”

Efficacy of a mixture of Ginkgo biloba, sesame, and turmeric on cognitive function in healthy adults: Study protocol for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

“…Complementary and alternative medicines, such as medical plants and functional foods, have been paid attention to as medication of various diseases in which the influence of lifestyle is pointed out [1][2][3]. In this context, it is desired to confirm the effect of these alternative agents by rational scientific evidences.…”