The risk for adverse events of acupuncture on children is estimated to be 1.55 per 100 cases, leading experts to consider the treatment as ¡°low risk¡±.
The review was done by the Division of Intramural Research, National Centre for Complementary Medicine, and National Institutes of Health. Researchers reviewed 31 different published journal articles, including 23 randomized controlled clinical trials and 8 meta-analysis reviews.
Acupuncture has become a dominant complementary and alternative modality in clinical practice today, but its associated risk has been questioned. The National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement states ¡°one of the advantages of acupuncture is that the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted procedures for the same conditions.¡±
A review of serious adverse events found the risk of a major complication occurring to have an incidence between 1:10,000 and 1:100,000, which is considered ¡°very low.¡±
Another study found that the risk of a serious adverse event occurring from acupuncture therapy is the same as taking penicillin.
The safety of acupuncture is a serious concern, particularly in pediatrics. Because acupuncture¡¯s mechanism is not known, the use of needles in children becomes questionable. For example, acupoints on the vertex of infants should not be needled when the fontanel is not closed. It is also advisable to apply few needles or delay treatment to the children who have overeaten, are overfatigued, or are very weak.
The actual risk to an individual patient is hard to determine because certain patients, such as an immunosuppressed patient, can be predisposed to an increased risk, acupuncturist¡¯s qualifications differ, and practices vary in certain parts of the world.
Nevertheless, it seems acupuncture is a safe complementary/alternative medicine modality for pediatric patients on the basis of the data we reviewed.
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