Use of complementary and alternative medicine among American women.
BACKGROUND
Although women are increasingly using complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies, a national profile characterizing women who use CAM has yet to be described. The purpose of this study is to provide prevalence estimates of recent CAM use among American women and to examine sociodemographic and other characteristics associated with use.


METHODS
Data from the 1999 National Health Interview Survey are used for the analysis. Three operational definitions of recent CAM use are employed (any CAM, type-specific, and domain-specific use). All proportions and prevalence estimates are weighted and standard errors are adjusted to account for complex sample design; weighted logistic regression (with coefficient variance adjustment) is also used.


RESULTS
Overall, 33.5% of American women used CAM in the past 12 months. Spiritual healing/prayer and herbal medicine are the most commonly used, and hypnosis, biofeedback, and energy healing are the least common. Multivariate results show that women who are older, have more education, poorer health, or live in the west or midwest (versus south) are more likely to use CAM. Compared to whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are less likely to use CAM. Foreign-born women, those with lower income, or who live in the Northeast are also less likely to use CAM. Insurance status is not independently associated with CAM use.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides one of the first comprehensive investigations of CAM use among American women. Future research examining the determinants of CAM use, incorporating attitudinal and health conditions, as well as clinical efficacy, effectiveness, and health outcome studies of specific CAM therapies are warranted.
Upchurch
Dawn M
DM
UCLA School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, 650 Charles Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1722, USA. upchurch@ucla.edu
Chyu
Laura
L
D000328:Adult; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D012648:Self Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health