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Context Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by US adults increased substantially between 1990 and 1997, yet little is known about more recent trends.
Objective Compare CAM therapy use by US adults in 2002 and 1997.
Design Comparison of two national surveys of CAM use by US adults: (1) the Alternative Health/Complementary and Alternative Medicine supplement to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS, N=31,044) and (2) a 1997 national survey (N = 2055), each containing questions about 15 common CAM therapies.
Main Outcome Measures Prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and insurance coverage of CAM use.
Results The most commonly used CAM modalities in 2002 were herbal therapy (18.6%, representing over 38 million US adults) followed by relaxation techniques (14.2%, representing 29 million US adults) and chiropractic (7.4%, representing 15 million US adults). Among CAM users, 41% used two or more CAM therapies during the prior year. Factors associated with highest rates of CAM use were ages 40-64, female gender, non-black/non-Hispanic race, and annual income of $65,000 or higher. Overall CAM use for the 15 therapies common to both surveys was similar between 1997 and 2002 (36.5%, vs. 35.0%, respectively, each representing about 72 million US adults). The greatest relative increase in CAM use between 1997 and 2002 was seen for herbal medicine (12.1% vs. 18.6%, respectively), and yoga (3.7% vs. 5.1%, respectively), while the largest relative decrease occurred for chiropractic (9.9 % to 7.4%, respectively).
Conclusions The prevalence of CAM use has remained stable from 1997 to 2002. Over one in three respondents used CAM in the past year, representing about 72 million US adults.
Although this work was made possible in part by grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (T32-AT0051-03 [Dr. Tindle], K24-AT000589 [Dr. Phillips], U24-AR43441 [Drs. Davis and Eisenberg]) and by private foundation grants (Horton Family Fund, Seattle Foundation (Dr. Tindle) John E. Fetzer Institute, American Society of Actuaries, Friends of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Kenneth J. Germeshausen Foundation, and the J.E. and Z.B. Butler Foundation (Drs. Davis and Eisenberg), its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCCAM, National Institutes of Health, or private foundations. (Altern Ther Health Med. 11(1);42-49.)
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is...