Hypnotherapy, standard medical treatment equally effective at easing paediatric nausea symptoms

Gut-directed hypnotherapy (HT) appears to be as good as standard medical treatment (SMT) in terms of reducing nausea symptoms in children with functional nausea (FN) or functional dyspepsia (FD), according to a study.

A total of 100 children aged 8–18 years who had chronic nausea and met the criteria for functional nausea or functional dyspepsia criteria were randomized to undergo HT or receive SMT for 3 months. All of them completed a 7-day diary to record nausea symptoms.

The primary outcome of treatment success, which was defined as a reduction of ≥50 percent in nausea, at the 12-month follow-up was similar in the HT and SMT groups (60 percent and 55 percent, respectively; p=0.667). Treatment success tended to be higher with HT at 3 months (45 percent vs 26 percent; p=0.052) and at 6 months (57 percent vs 40 percent; p=0.099).

Success rate was significantly higher with HT in the FN group but did not differ between HT and SMT in the FD group.

The secondary outcome of adequate relief of nausea was significantly higher with HT than with SMT at the 6-month follow-up (children: 81 percent vs 55 percent; p=0.014 and parents: 79 percent vs 53 percent; p=0.016) but not at the 12-month follow-up.

The findings suggest that HT and SMT, used separately or in combination, represent an attractive treatment option among children with FN.