Positive Health Online

Abstract

BUSATO and colleagues, Clinical Epidemiology and HTA, University of Bern, Institute for Evaluative Research in Orthopaedic Surgery, Bern, Switzerland, andre.busato@memcenter.unibe.ch, have studied the use of health care in complementary and conventional primary care in Switzerland.

Background

The study was part of a nationwide evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in primary care in Switzerland. Its aim was to study patient health status with respect to demographic attributes such as gender, age, and health care utilization pattern, and to compare with conventional primary care.

Methodology

The study was performed as a cross-sectional survey including 11932 adult patients seeking complementary or conventional primary care. Patients were asked to document their self-perceived health status by completing a questionnaire. Physicians were performing conventional medicine and/or various forms of complementary primary care such as Homeopathy, Anthroposophic Medicine, Neural Therapy, Herbal Medicine, or Traditional Chinese Medicine. Additional information on patient demographics and yearly consultation rates for participating physicians was obtained from the data pool of all Swiss health insurers.

Results

Considerable and significant differences in demographic attributes of patients seeking complementary and conventional care were observed. Patients seeking CAM documented longer lasting and more severe main health problems than patients in conventional care. The number of previous physician visits differed between patient groups, which indicates higher consumption of medical resources by CAM patients.

Conclusion

The study provides empirical evidence that CAM users are requiring more physician-based medical services in primary care than users of conventional medicine.

References

Busato A, Donges A, Herren S, Widmer M, Marian F. Health status and health care utilisation of patients in complementary and conventional primary care in Switzerland—an observational studyy. Family Practice 23 (1): 116-124, Feb 2006.