The effect of chiropractic treatment on infantile colic: study protocol for a single-blind randomized controlled trial

Identifying potential treatment effect modifiers of the effectiveness of chiropractic care to infants with colic through prespecified secondary analyses of a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

A recent trial identified large variation in effect of chiropractic care for infantile colic. Thus, identification of possible effect modifiers could potentially enhance the clinical reasoning to select infants with excessive crying for chiropractic care. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify potential treatment effect modifiers which might influence the effect of chiropractic care for excessive crying in infancy.

METHODS

Design: Prespecified secondary analyses of data from a randomised controlled trial. The analyses are partly confirmative and partly exploratory.

SETTING

Four chiropractic clinics in Denmark.

PARTICIPANTS

Infants aged 2-14 weeks with unexplained excessive crying. Of the 200 infants randomised (1:1), 103 were assigned to a chiropractic care group and 97 to a control group.

INTERVENTION

Infants in the intervention group received chiropractic care for 2 weeks, while the control group was not treated. Main analyses: The outcome was change in daily hours of crying. Fifteen baseline variables and 6 general variables were selected as potential effect modifiers, and indices based on these were constructed. Factor analyses, latent class analyses and prognosis were used to construct other potentially modifying variables. Finally, an attempt at defining a new index aiming at optimal prediction of the treatment effect was made. The predictive value for all resulting variables were examined by considering the difference in mean change in crying time between the two treatment groups, stratified by the values of the candidate variables, i.e. interaction analyses.

RESULTS

None of the predefined items or indices were shown to be useful in identifying colicky infants with potentially larger gain from manual therapy. However, more baseline hours of crying (p = 0.029), short duration of symptoms (p = 0.061) and young age (p = 0.089) were all associated with an increased effect on the outcome of hours of crying.

CONCLUSION

Musculoskeletal indicators were not shown to be predictive of an increased benefit for colicky infants from chiropractic treatment. However, increased benefit was associated with early treatment and a high level of baseline crying, suggesting that the most severely affected infants have the greatest potential of benefiting from manual therapy. This finding requires validation by future studies.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Clinical Trials NCT02595515 , registered 2 November 2015.

The effect of chiropractic care on infantile colic: results from a single-blind randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Chiropractic care is commonly used to treat infantile colic. However large trials with parental blinding are missing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of chiropractic care on infantile colic.

METHOD

This is a multicenter, single-blind randomized controlled trial conducted in four Danish chiropractic clinics, 2015-2019. Information was distributed in the maternity wards and by maternal and child health nurses. Children aged 2-14 weeks with unexplained excessive crying were recruited through home visits and randomized (1:1) to either chiropractic care or control group. Both groups attended the chiropractic clinic twice a week for 2 weeks. The intervention group received chiropractic care, while the control group was not treated. The parents were not present in the treatment room and unaware of their child's allocation. The primary outcome was change in daily hours of crying before and after treatment. Secondary outcomes were changes in hours of sleep, hours being awake and content, gastrointestinal symptoms, colic status and satisfaction. All outcomes were based on parental diaries and a final questionnaire.

RESULTS

Of 200 recruited children, 185 completed the trial (treatment group n = 96; control group n = 89). Duration of crying in the treatment group was reduced by 1.5 h compared with 1 h in the control group (mean difference - 0.6, 95% CI - 1.1 to - 0.1; P = 0.026), but when adjusted for baseline hours of crying, age and chiropractic clinic, the difference was not significant (P = 0.066). The proportion obtaining a clinically important reduction of 1 h of crying was 63% in the treatment group and 47% in the control group (p = 0.037), and NNT was 6.5. We found no effect on any of the secondary outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Excessive crying was reduced by half an hour in favor of the group receiving chiropractic care compared with the control group, but not at a statistically significant level after adjustments. From a clinical perspective, the mean difference between the groups was small, but there were large individual differences, which emphasizes the need to investigate if subgroups of children, e.g. those with musculoskeletal problems, benefit more than others from chiropractic care.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Clinical Trials NCT02595515 , registered 2 November 2015.

The global summit on the efficacy and effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy for the prevention and treatment of non-musculoskeletal disorders: a systematic review of the literature

Background

A small proportion of chiropractors, osteopaths, and other manual medicine providers use spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) to manage non-musculoskeletal disorders. However, the efficacy and effectiveness of these interventions to prevent or treat non-musculoskeletal disorders remain controversial.

Objectives

We convened a Global Summit of international scientists to conduct a systematic review of the literature to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of SMT for the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of non-musculoskeletal disorders.

Global summit

The Global Summit took place on September 14–15, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. It was attended by 50 researchers from 8 countries and 28 observers from 18 chiropractic organizations. At the summit, participants critically appraised the literature and synthesized the evidence.

Systematic review of the literature

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, and the Index to Chiropractic Literature from inception to May 15, 2019 using subject headings specific to each database and free text words relevant to manipulation/manual therapy, effectiveness, prevention, treatment, and non-musculoskeletal disorders. Eligible for review were randomized controlled trials published in English. The methodological quality of eligible studies was assessed independently by reviewers using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) criteria for randomized controlled trials. We synthesized the evidence from articles with high or acceptable methodological quality according to the Synthesis without Meta-Analysis (SWiM) Guideline. The final risk of bias and evidence tables were reviewed by researchers who attended the Global Summit and 75% (38/50) had to approve the content to reach consensus.

Results

We retrieved 4997 citations, removed 1123 duplicates and screened 3874 citations. Of those, the eligibility of 32 articles was evaluated at the Global Summit and 16 articles were included in our systematic review. Our synthesis included six randomized controlled trials with acceptable or high methodological quality (reported in seven articles). These trials investigated the efficacy or effectiveness of SMT for the management of infantile colic, childhood asthma, hypertension, primary dysmenorrhea, and migraine. None of the trials evaluated the effectiveness of SMT in preventing the occurrence of non-musculoskeletal disorders. Consensus was reached on the content of all risk of bias and evidence tables. All randomized controlled trials with high or acceptable quality found that SMT was not superior to sham interventions for the treatment of these non-musculoskeletal disorders. Six of 50 participants (12%) in the Global Summit did not approve the final report.

Conclusion

Our systematic review included six randomized clinical trials (534 participants) of acceptable or high quality investigating the efficacy or effectiveness of SMT for the treatment of non-musculoskeletal disorders. We found no evidence of an effect of SMT for the management of non-musculoskeletal disorders including infantile colic, childhood asthma, hypertension, primary dysmenorrhea, and migraine. This finding challenges the validity of the theory that treating spinal dysfunctions with SMT has a physiological effect on organs and their function. Governments, payers, regulators, educators, and clinicians should consider this evidence when developing policies about the use and reimbursement of SMT for non-musculoskeletal disorders.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12998-021-00362-9.