NCCIH Research Blog

A wide range of complementary and integrative health approaches are used by children, including botanicals and dietary supplements, massage, acupuncture, and chiropractic care. Children are not small adults, however, and their bodies can react differently than adults to various therapies. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) recognizes the value of studying complementary approaches in the pediatric population, particularly in relation to our strategic objectives for managing pain conditions and fostering health promotion and disease prevention.

As a step in exploring the opportunities and gaps in our Center’s research portfolio, we hosted a “Pediatric Complementary and Integrative Health” mini-symposium at the June 2018 meeting of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health (NACCIH).

• I presented an overview of the NCCIH pediatric portfolio.
• Catherine Spong, M.D., Deputy Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, presented on efforts to better understand the experiences of women during pregnancy, including their use of botanicals and dietary supplements, in the new crowdsourcing project PregSource.
• Christina Bethell, Ph.D., Director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shared statistics on use of complementary therapies among children in the United States.
• Susmita Kashikar-Zuck, Ph.D., Professor and Research Director at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, discussed research on nondrug approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for recurrent and chronic pain conditions in childhood.
• Erica Sibinga, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, highlighted key themes and opportunities for future research.

We encourage investigators to submit pediatric research applications using NCCIH’s available active funding opportunity announcements. Consider contacting a program director to discuss your research interests and get help selecting the appropriate funding opportunity.

We welcome you to view the presentations from the June meeting of the NCCIH advisory council and stay tuned as NCCIH continues to explore new research priorities.

Pediatric Complementary and Integrative Health

• Introduction
  David Shurtleff, Ph.D.
• Overview of Topics and Speakers
  Richard Nahin, Ph.D., M.P.H.
• NCCIH Pediatric Portfolio
  Wendy Weber, N.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development – Pediatrics and Alternative Therapies
  Catherine Spong, M.D.
• Use of Complementary and Integrative Approaches in Pediatrics – Pediatric Well-Being
  Christina Bethell, Ph.D.
• Behavioral Therapies for Managing Chronic Pediatric Pain Disorders
  Susmita Kashikar-Zuck, Ph.D.
• Discussion of Opportunities and Gaps
  Erica Sibinga, M.D., M.H.S., and NACCIH members