Positive Health Online

Abstract

KESSLER and colleagues, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA, kessler@hcp.med.harvard.edu, presented data on time trends in complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies in the USA over the past half-century.

Background

Many people in the USA use CAM therapies, but little is known about the time trends in use.

Methodology

A nationally representative telephone survey of 2,055 respondents (household residents aged 18 years or older) in 48 contiguous US states, which obtained information on current use, lifetime use and age at first use for 20 CAM therapies .

Results

More than a third of the US population was currently using CAM therapy in the year of the interviews (1997). 67.7% of respondents had used at least one CAM therapy in their lifetime . Lifetime use increased steadily with age across three age cohorts: about 3 of every 10 respondents in the pre-baby boom cohort; 5 of 10 in the baby boom cohort; and 7 of 10 in the post-baby boom cohort reported using some type of CAM therapy by age 33 years . Of respondents who ever used a CAM therapy, almost half continued to use many years later. There was increased use of a wide range of CAM therapies over time . Growth was similar across all major sociodemographic sectors of the study sample.

Conclusion

Use of CAM therapies by a large proportion of the study sample is the result of a secular trend that began at least half a century ago. Continuing demand for CAM therapies is likely to affect health care delivery for the foreseeable future .

References

Kessler RC et al. Long-term trends in the use of complementary and alternative medical therapies in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine 135 (4): 262-8. Aug 2001.