Complementary and alternative medicine in allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) was defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (a branch of the National Institutes of Health) as a group of diverse medical and health-care systems, therapies, and products that are often not integrated with conventional medicine. Worldwide, there are a large number of CAM therapies that vary by country, religion, race, history, and culture. CAM therapies have been used by more than 80% of the world's population, and this number has been increasing throughout the world. For chronic diseases, patients tend to seek treatment modalities outside of conventional medicine, and CAM therapy has become increasingly common among these patients. The use of CAM therapies is also prevalent among asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) patients with a reported rate of 42% in the United States. In this chapter, we review the more commonly used allergic rhinitis complementary and alternative therapies.