Fwd: [S-A] Echinacea Study Flawed

[Guest guest]

" Misty L. Trepke " <mistytrepke wrote:To:

 

" Misty L. Trepke "

Fri, 05 Dec 2003 01:25:06 -0000

[s-A] Echinacea Study Flawed

 

Now I am *sure* this was an *honest* mistake.... And was not meant

to discredit the herbal remedy echinacea in any way... Any one else

buying this???

Be Well,

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Echinacea study flawed

 

Dear List Members,

 

I'm sure many of you saw headlines today that Journal of the American

Medical Association (JAMA) published a study done to test the

efficacy of echinacea in treating upper respiratory infections in

children that concluded echinacea was not effective.

 

What you were far less likely to see was the statement by the

authors, five of whom are affiliated with naturopathic colleges, that

the results " could have turned out differently with another species

of echinacea. "

 

They went on to explain that herbalists have traditionally prescribed

Echinacea augustifolia for upper respiratory tract infections. This

is confirmed in a number of herbal materia medicas and Ellingwood's

Therapeutist, (the Therapeutist dealt only with clinical observations,

reports, editorial, and materia medica). The Therapeutist states:

 

" There is considerable confusion concerning the identity of the active

medicinal species of echinacea. The echinacea purpurea of the Eastern

States has been thought to be identical with the echinacea

angustifolia of the Western States. It is often used for the same

purposes, but is universally disappointing. "

 

I was not surprised when a group of conventional medicine researchers

undertook a study of ginkgo biloba utilizing people with no cogitive

deficits and found that ginkgo did not improve people's cognitive

functioning. This was obviously done just for the headline (which is

all people really remember), although more than forty other studies

have shown ginkgo biloba as being effective in reducing cogitive

deficits in people suffering from cognitive deficits.

 

I'm not surprised when a group of conventional medicine researchers

do a study on a homeopathic remedy and conclude that the remedy " is

not effective " . (Misty- using the remedy in the wrong way most

likely..) But I do find it difficult to understand how a study of

the wrong species of echinacea is done and the results of this

published when five of the seven researchers involved have a

foundation in naturopathy and should know better.

 

Are we really this ignorant or have we sold out? Either way, I'm quite

disappointed and angry at these five people who have either wittingly

or unwittingly dealt a setback to herbal medicine.

 

Here is the abstract from JAMA:

 

Efficacy and Safety of Echinacea in Treating Upper Respiratory Tract

Infections in Children A Randomized Controlled Trial

 

James A. Taylor, MD; Wendy Weber, ND, MPH; Leanna Standish, ND, PhD;

Hal Quinn, MD; Jenna Goesling; Mary McGann, MPH, MSW; Carlo

Calabrese, ND, MPH

 

JAMA. 2003;290:2824-2830.

 

Context: Echinacea is a widely used herbal remedy for treatment of

upper respiratory tract infections (URIs). However, there are few

data on the efficacy and safety of echinacea in treating URIs in

children.

 

Objectives: To determine if Echinacea purpurea is effective in

reducing the duration and/or severity of URI symptoms in children and

to assess its safety in this population.

 

Design, Setting, and Participants: Randomized, double-blind,

placebo-controlled trial of healthy children 2 to 11 years old

recruited from a regional practice-based network and an alternative

medical center in 4-month periods from 2000 through 2002.

 

Interventions: Study patients were randomized to receive either

echinacea or placebo for up to 3 URIs over a 4-month period. Study

medication was begun at the onset of symptoms and continued

throughout the URI, for a maximum of 10 days.

 

Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes were duration and severity of

symptoms and adverse events recorded by parents; secondary outcomes

included peak severity of symptoms, number of days of peak severity,

number of days of fever, and a global assessment of severity of

symptoms by parents of study children.

 

Results: Data were analyzed on 707 URIs that occurred in 407

children, including 337 URIs treated with echinacea and 370 with

placebo. There were 79 children who completed their study period

without having a URI. The median duration of URIs was 9 days (95%

confidence interval, 8-10 days); there was no difference in duration

between URIs treated with echinacea or placebo (P = .89). There was

also no difference in the overall estimate of severity of URI

symptoms between the 2 treatment groups (median, 33 in both

groups; P = .69). In addition, there were no statistically significant

differences between the 2 groups for peak severity of symptoms (P =

..68), number of days of peak symptoms (1.60 in the echinacea group

and 1.64 in the placebo group; P = .97), number of days of fever

(0.81 in the echinacea group vs 0.64 in the placebo group; P = .09),

or parental global assessment of severity of the URI (P = .67).

Overall, there was no difference in the rate of adverse events

reported in the 2 treatment groups; however, rash occurred during

7.1% of the URIs treated with echinacea and 2.7% of those

treated with placebo (P = .008).

 

Conclusions: Echinacea purpurea, as dosed in this study, was not

effective in treating URI symptoms in patients 2 to 11 years old, and

its use was associated with an increased risk of rash.

 

[Author Affiliations: Child Health Institute, University of

Washington and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center,

Seattle, Wash (Dr Taylor); Department of Naturopathic Medicine,

Bastyr University, Kenmore, Wash (Drs Standish and Weber, and Mss

Goesling and McGann); Mercer Island Pediatric Associates, Mercer

Island, Wash (Dr Quinn); and Helfgott Research Institute,

National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, Ore (Dr

Calabrese)].

 

 

 

 

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