Echinacea is ineffective in shorten...

Echinacea is ineffective in shortening the duration or decreasing the severity of upper respiratory infections (URIs) in children, according to a Dec 2 2003 freshs release from JAMA. Upper respiratory infections are a significant health lading in childhood; the average child has six to eight bleaks each year, each lasting seven to nine days.

Although children at short intervals are given medications such as decongestants, antihistamines, and cough suppressants to shorten symptoms, there is little evidence that these medications are effective in children younger than 12 years of age. An estimated 11% to 21% of children in the United States and Canada who are treated at conventional physicians also receive alternative therapies. Echinacea, single in kind of the most commonly used herbal remedies in the United States, has been used extensively for prevention and treatment of URIs in adults.

thought results showed there was no difference in duration between URIs treated with echinacea or those treated with placebo and no difference in the overall estimate of severity of URI symptoms between the sum of two units treatment groups. In addition, there were no significant differences between the pair groups for peak severity of symptoms, number of days of peak symptoms, number of days of heat or parental global assessment of severity of the URI. Finally, there was no difference in the rate of adverse consequences reported in the two treatment disposes although rashes were reported according to 7.1% of patients with URIs who were treated with echinacea and 27% of those treated with placebo.

Echinacea Not Effective in Treating devoid of warmth [i]or[/i] heats in Children (news release, Chicago: JAMA, Dec 2 2003) http://pubs.ama.assn.org/media/2003j/1202.dtl#echinacea (accessed 8 Dec 2003)

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