Mind-body complementary alternative medicine use and quality of life in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease

Mind-body complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities (e.g., relaxation or meditation) for symptom management have not been well studied in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The purposes of this study were to: 1) determine the prevalence of 5 types of mind-body CAM use, and consideration of use for symptom management; 2) assess characteristics associated with regular mind-body CAM use; and 3) examine whether regular and/or considered mind-body CAM use are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Sixty-seven adolescents with IBD ages 12-19 recruited from a children's hospital completed a questionnaire on CAM use and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Logistic regression models were estimated for regular and considered CAM use.

Participants mean (SD) age was 15.5 (2.1) years; 37 (55%) were female; 53 (79%) were white; and 20 (30%) had moderate disease severity. Adolescents used prayer (62%), relaxation (40%), and imagery (21%) once/day to once/week for symptom management. In multivariate analyses, females were more likely to use relaxation (odds ratio [OR] = 4.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.25-15.29, c statistic = 0.73). Younger adolescents were more likely to regularly use (OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.42-0.95, c statistic = 0.72) or consider using (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.59-1.00, c statistic = 0.64) meditation. Adolescents with more severe disease (OR = 4.17, 95% CI = 1.07-16.29, c statistic = 0.83) were more willing to consider using relaxation in the future. Adolescents with worse HRQOL were more willing to consider using prayer and meditation for future symptom management (P < 0.05).

Many adolescents with IBD either currently use or would consider using mind-body CAM for symptom management.