Doctoral project: Traditional medicine

Description

The role of traditional medicine in acute respiratory infections and asthma​

Eighty per cent of the world’s population uses traditional medicines, and asthma remains the most common chronic disease among children worldwide. A systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature found that asthma was more likely in patients exposed to cold (observational studies ORp 2.0 IC95% 1.28-3.14 and experimental studies ORp 3.8 IC95% 1.7-8.86).
A case-control study with children (2-14 year-old) from 8 municipalities near Bogotá, Colombia, assessed the association between traditional health care, including the use of medicinal plants, and asthma. Multivariate analysis showed that children were less likely to have asthma if they lived in a household in which people grew and used medicinal plants (OR 0.49 IC95% 0.25-0.99).
A retrospective case series with 26 medical histories described the effect and safety of outpatient medical treatment for asthma incorporating knowledge and resources from traditional medicine (municipality of Cota). Among the 26 patients, 16 presented controlled asthma after treatment with traditional medicine, and nine had no episodes of uncontrolled asthma during the entire follow-up. These findings suggest an association between concepts, resources and practices of traditional medicine and prevention, lower prevalence and effective treatment of asthma, even given the limitations of this study.

Status: Completed

Student: Germán Zuluaga

Degree: PhD UAGro

Partners:

Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET) de la Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero

Centro de Estudios Médicos Interculturales