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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156:88-89.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Evaluating the role of complementary and alternative medicine is important and may lead to improvement in the care that we provide for children. The article by Sarell et al¹ compares the efficacy of a naturopathic herbal extract with a commercially available topical anesthetic for the treatment of pain associated with acute otitis media (AOM) and concludes that the treatments have equal effectiveness in the improvement of self-rated pain scores. Important methodologic issues limit this conclusion:

• The data presented are the mean and SD of the pain scores over 3 days at time intervals following the administration of ear drops. The upper limit of the pain scale is 10. However, on the initial day, the upper limit of the SD exceeds 10 and the figure presents the pain scale as if the upper limit were 12. It might be more meaningful to present the mean score (or median if the underlying . . . [Full Text of this Article]