Trends in attention to complementary and alternative medicine in the American medical literature.
For decades, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been a topic of discussion within American medical journals. This research examines trends in the amount of coverage CAM receives in top professional journals in US medicine in order to ascertain if the timing of this discussion is linked to demographic, economic or political changes occurring in US society and affecting organized medicine. Pooled time series analyses of the number of published documents in five prestigious American medical journals between 1965 and 1999 were conducted, and findings of models with unlagged and lagged variables are presented. Results indicate that coverage of CAM is related to a proportionately older population, disability, innovation in health care financing and expanded licensing for non-physician health care providers. These associations point to a profession actively monitoring its competitors in a rapidly changing medical marketplace.
Winnick
Terri A
TA
Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University-Mansfield, Ohio 44906, USA. winnick.3@osu.edu
D001294:Attitude to Health; D015706:Bibliometrics; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D003710:Demography; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012922:Social Change; D014481:United States