[Use of complementary and alternative medicines among factory workers: investigation of workers in manufacturing].
To elucidate the situation of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in an occupational health setting, workers in a factory of a housing construction business were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires on their utilization of CAM in the past 12 months, out-of-pocket expenditures on CAM and ordinary western medicines (OWM), and reasons for the use of CAM. A total of 263 workers (84.3%) completed the questionnaires. Among them, 134 (51%) had received CAM therapy in the last 12 months: i.e. nutritional and tonic drinks (35.4%), supplements (16.3%), massage (13.7%), chiropractic or osteopathy (8.7%), health-related appliances (6.5%), herb or kampo (3.4%), aromatherapy (1.9%), acupuncture (1.9%), or other therapy (1.5%). Reasons for the use of CAM was "the condition was not serious enough to warrant OWM" and "expectation of health promotion or disease prevention" for 70 (51.9%) and 53 (39.3%) subjects, respectively. Average annual out-of-pocket expenditures for CAM and OWM were 17,500 and 21,300 yen, respectively. It seems important to further widen awareness and knowledge of CAM in occupational health.
Sawazaki
Kenta
K
Faculty of Oriental Medicine, Department of Acupuncture Medicine, Suzuka University of Medical Science, 1001-1 Kishioka, Suzuka, Mie 510-0293, Japan. sawazaki@suzuka-u.ac.jp
Sakuraba
Hinata
H
Masudai
Fumiya
F
Ishii
Chiyo
C
Yokoyama
Kazuhito
K
D000328:Adult; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003252:Construction Materials; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires