New study findings indicate that complementary and alternative medicines may be used frequently by individuals with multiple sclerosis.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, complementary medicine is used along with conventional treatment while alternative medicine is used instead of conventional therapies. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine include dietary supplements, aromatherapy, meditation and traditional Chinese therapies such as acupuncture.

To evaluate the frequency and characteristics of complementary and alternative medicine use by MS patients, the study authors interviewed 254 subjects with MS. The researchers also assessed data from the participants' neurological examinations.

The results showed that 67.3 percent of the subjects reported currently using one or more complementary and alternative medicines. Overall, 90.6 percent of the therapies were complementary while 9.4 percent were alternative treatments.

The investigators also found that subjects who used complementary medicine were more severely affected by MS and had a longer disease duration than non-users. However, no social or demographic differences were detected among the users and non-users.

With regard to the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine, 67.1 percent of the patients reported improvement, no influence was reported by 32.3 percent and 0.6 percent reported worsening. In addition, 3.7 percent of the complementary and alternative medicine treatments were accompanied by minor side effects, the authors noted.

"Since MS patients are frequently using [complementary and alternative medicine] despite the absence of clinically proven efficacy and appraise it positively, further research on the motivation for utilization and on objective effects of [complementary and alternative medicine] are needed," the investigators reported.

The study was published online June 19 ahead of the print edition of the Journal of Neurology.

A complimentary medical news service provided by Teva Neuroscience, this news service has been developed independently and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Teva Neuroscience. MS Update is a current news service provided by VerusMed, An Evolution of Faxwatch. The staff of medical writers at VerusMed independently summarize and abstract the most current articles on subjects in multiple sclerosis from the major peer-reviewed medical publications, such as Annals of Neurology, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of Neurology. In all cases, VerusMed cites the original source of its material.