Source
Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA. shintol@ohsu.edu
Abstract
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.