Complementary and alternative medicine use among older adults: ethnic variation.
OBJECTIVE
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used in the United States, but information is lacking on CAM use among older minority adults. This analysis documents CAM use among Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White adults age > or =65 and delineates the importance of ethnicity in predicting CAM use.


METHODS
Data are from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The 2002 NHIS oversampled Blacks and Hispanics and included a special module on CAM use. Logistic regression models were fit to examine the effects of ethnicity, sex, age, educational attainment, number of health conditions, and US census region on any CAM use and use of CAM within five major groupings.


RESULTS
27.7% of older adults use CAM, with the highest level of use among Asians (48.6%), followed by Hispanics (31.6%), Whites (27.7%), and Blacks (20.5%). Asian elders have significantly greater odds than Whites of using any CAM, alternative medical system, biologically based therapies, and mind-body medicine and lower odds of using body-based and manipulative methods. Hispanic elders have greater odds than Whites of using any CAM and biologically-based therapies. Black elders differ significantly from Whites only in their lesser use of body-based and manipulative methods. Overall, more women than men are CAM users. CAM use declines amongthose age > or =75 years.


CONCLUSIONS
CAM is an important component of older adults' health self-management, and research should examine how they learn about CAM and delineate the decision process in selecting CAM modalities.
Arcury
Thomas A
TA
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem NC 27157-1084, USA. tarcury@wfubmc.edu
Suerken
Cynthia K
CK
Grzywacz
Joseph G
JG
Bell
Ronny A
RA
Lang
Wei
W
Quandt
Sara A
SA
D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data