248P - The use of complementary medicine in Chinese pediatric patients receiving palliative care: A multi-centre study

Background

Children receiving palliative care face unique physical and psychosocial needs. Parents may turn to complementary medicines (CM); however, related studies are limited. This study examined the pattern of CM use among pediatric patients with cancer and non-cancer conditions receiving palliative care.

Methods

Between April 2021 and June 2022, parents of patients (<19 years old) receiving palliative care were recruited from 3 hospitals in Hong Kong. They completed a structured survey on sociodemographic data, CM use, and the child’s symptom burden (Rotterdam Symptoms Checklist). Clinical data were collected from health records. Differences in characteristics were compared among CM users (with cancer or non-cancer conditions) and non-users.

Results

We recruited 61 patients (60.7% male; mean age=10.4 years). Overall, 68.9% reported CM use, most commonly Chinese herbal medicine (39.3%) and massage/TuiNa (34.4%). Among the 24 patients with cancer, 62.5% were CM users; they were older at cancer diagnosis than non-users (p<0.001). Non-oral CM approaches, especially acupuncture, were less popular among patients with cancer than non-cancer patients (29.2% vs 64.9%, p=0.01). Among CM users, patients with cancer had higher physical symptom distress than non-cancer users (22.0 vs 17.3, p<0.01). More parents of children with cancer consulted their doctors before using CM than non-cancer users (73.3% vs 33.3% p=0.03), and considered CM to be effective in relieving nausea, vomiting and indigestion symptoms (p<0.05). Most parents (73%) spent ≥USD 130 on CM monthly. Among cancer patients, the most common reason for not using CM was the lack of information (55.6%). Multivariable analyses showed that older parents (aOR=1.15, 95%CI=1.02-1.31) were more likely to use CM, while children who received bone marrow transplant were less likely to use CM (aOR=0.16, 95%CI=0.03-0.73). Most parents (82.5%) supported CM integration, especially Chinese medicine and acupuncture, into palliative care service.

Conclusions

Two-third of surveyed pediatric patients with cancer receiving palliative care used CM regularly. Future work should explore integrating CM approaches into palliative programs for symptom management and psychological support.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.