Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Children with Sickle Cell Disease: Prevalence and Factors Associated with Use

Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is one of the most common hematologic disorders in the world. In the United States, it is the single most common genetic hematologic disorder. The burden of SCD and its complications on pediatric patients is tremendous, especially acute vaso-occlusive pain crises. Although allopathic medicine has provided numerous pain medications to treat this, they do not come without side effects and are not always effective. This review explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods of pain management available for pediatric SCD patients. A PubMed literature search was conducted, and the reference lists of shortlisted studies and review articles were screened after application of the exclusion criteria; 14 articles were used in this literature analysis. A wide range of CAM therapies exist. Common ones include praying, spirituality, and massage. Factors associated with CAM use are parental use of CAM, gender, SCD/pain severity, patient’s age, caregiver’s education level, and in some cases, financial means to access CAM methods. CAM has shown to be effective in reducing pain, patients’ depression and anxiety, analgesic use, and in increasing daily functioning. Thus, CAM has demonstrated potential in reducing pain and improving the quality of life of pediatric SCD patients. It holds great promise to be regularly encouraged by providers and employed by patients. Further research is needed on a larger scale to better study its efficacy; however, CAM use has repeatedly been associated with improved functioning and pain control.