Key Messages
- There is evidence of increasing public interest in the use of
complementary therapies for the treatment of medical conditions.
- However, overall, there is less information available about the safety
and effectiveness of complementary therapies than is available about
mainstream pharmaceutical treatments.
- As with any new asthma treatment, it is wise to trial a complementary
therapy for a set period to determine its benefit. Following this trial a
clear decision can be made to stop or continue the therapy. If a patient
would like to try a complementary therapy, encourage him/her to discuss what
aspect of their asthma they hope to improve and how to measure the benefit.
- Health professionals prescribing complementary therapies should be aware
of the potential for adverse effects and for interactions with
pharmaceutical medicines.
- There is no national system of registration or recognition of
complementary therapy practitioners. In most States and Territories, the
majority of complementary therapy practitioners are not subject to
regulation.
- Many complementary medicines carry an Australian Listing (AUST L) number
issued by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
Introduction
There is evidence of widespread and increasing public interest in the use of
complementary therapies (both medicines and physical therapies) for the
treatment of medical conditions, including asthma. Authoritative information
about these therapies, their possible benefits or adverse effects on people with
asthma, is required to enable health professionals to respond to the needs of
people with asthma.
This paper summarises current information from published clinical trials and
systematic reviews about the effectiveness of various complementary therapies
for improving symptoms and/or lung function and/or reducing medication
requirements in people with asthma. This data is laid out at the end of this
document in a colour-coded table.
An agreed definition of complementary therapy has not yet been developed.
This paper uses a simple working definition: a complementary therapy is a
therapy, including medicinal products, which is not considered to be part of
current standard medical care.
The review is limited to a review of evidence of effectiveness of specific
therapies that are being used as treatment for asthma in Australia. Some
complementary health practices extend beyond the application to specific
therapies to include non-orthodox approaches to diagnosis and, indeed,
non-orthodox beliefs about the nature of illness. Assessment of the implications
of these aspects of complementary therapy is beyond the scope of this review.
However, practitioners should be aware of the consequences, both beneficial and
potentially adverse, of diagnostic labels and therapeutic decisions made within
these alternative paradigms.
Overall, there is less evidence about the effectiveness and safety of
complementary therapies than there is about mainstream therapies. There is a
need for well-targeted, high quality research to address the major gaps in the
evidence.
