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Animals : an open access journal from MDPI2021; 11(12); 3356; doi: 10.3390/ani11123356

A Systematic Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: “Miscellaneous Therapies”.

Abstract: There is an increasing interest in complementary and alternative veterinary medicine (CAVM). There is, however, an uncertainty of the efficacy of these methods. Therefore, the aim of this systematic literature review is to assess the evidence for clinical efficacy of 24 CAVM therapies used in cats, dogs, and horses. A bibliographic search, restricted to studies in cats, dogs, and horses, was performed on Web of Science Core Collection, CABI, and PubMed. Relevant articles were assessed for scientific quality, and information was extracted on study characteristics, species, type of treatment, indication, and treatment effects. Of 982 unique publications screened, 42 were eligible for inclusion, representing nine different CAVM therapies, which were aromatherapy, gold therapy, homeopathy, leeches (hirudotherapy), mesotherapy, mud, neural therapy, sound (music) therapy, and vibration therapy. For 15 predefined therapies, no study was identified. The risk of bias was assessed as high in 17 studies, moderate to high in 10, moderate in 10, low to moderate in four, and low in one study. In those studies where the risk of bias was low to moderate, there was considerable heterogeneity in reported treatment effects. Therefore, the scientific evidence is not strong enough to define the clinical efficacy of the 24 CAVM therapies.
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Publication Date: 2021-11-24 PubMed ID: 34944133PubMed Central: PMC8697896DOI: 10.3390/ani11123356Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research is a systematic review of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine (CAVM) examining 24 therapies used in cats, dogs, and horses, due to the increasing interest in CAVM but uncertainty about its efficacy. The review’s findings indicate there is not enough strong scientific evidence to define the clinical efficacy of these therapies.

Methodology

  • The researchers conducted a bibliographic search focused on studies involving cats, dogs, and horses.
  • The search was performed on several databases, notably the Web of Science Core Collection, CABI, and PubMed.
  • The selection process began by analyzing 982 unique publications. However, only 42 of these were deemed relevant and therefore eligible for inclusion in the review.
  • From these selected studies, information about study characteristics, species involved, type of treatment, indication, and treatment effects were extracted and analyzed.

Findings

  • The 42 selected studies represented nine different CAVM therapies, specifically aromatherapy, gold therapy, homeopathy, hirudotherapy (leeches), mesotherapy, mud therapy, neural therapy, sound (music) therapy, and vibration therapy.
  • For 15 of the predefined therapies, no study was found. This suggests that research on these therapies is relatively scarce or non-existent.
  • Risk of bias was found to be high in 17 of the studies, moderate to high in 10, moderate in 10, low to moderate in four, and low in only one study.
  • Even in studies with low to moderate risk of bias, there was significant heterogeneity in reported treatment effects.

Conclusion

  • The study concluded that the scientific evidence is not strong enough to decisively determine the clinical efficacy of the 24 CAVM therapies.
  • This means there is an uncertainty about the benefits and effectiveness of these treatments in veterinary practice for cats, dogs, and horses.

Cite This Article

APA
Bergh A, Lund I, Boström A, Hyytiäinen H, Asplund K. (2021). A Systematic Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: “Miscellaneous Therapies”. Animals (Basel), 11(12), 3356. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123356

Publication

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
ISSN: 2076-2615
NlmUniqueID: 101635614
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 11
Issue: 12
PII: 3356

Researcher Affiliations

Bergh, Anna
  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Lund, Iréne
  • Department of Physiology and Pharmacolgy, Karolinska Institutet, SE 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Boström, Anna
  • Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Hyytiäinen, Heli
  • Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Asplund, Kjell
  • Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, SE 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.

Grant Funding

  • Grant number: SLU.ua.2020.4.2-3148. / This systematic literature review was partly funded by SLU Future One Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences;

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Citations

This article has been cited 13 times.
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