Prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Immigrants.
Immigrants face barriers to accessing conventional health care systems. Hence, they are expected to have comparatively greater use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This study examines the prevalence of and reason for CAM use in the U.S. population by citizenship status. Data on 34,483 U.S.-born, naturalized, and non-U.S. citizens from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey was used. CAM was categorized into four domains. Analyses controlling for socioeconomic variables were identified patterns of utilization and reasons for use. The prevalence of all CAM domains was lowest among non-U.S. citizens followed by naturalized citizens. The odds of using CAM were also higher for the immigrants who attained citizenship than for non-citizens. Individuals in all groups reported using more CAM for prevention. Factors related to cost, accessibility, or knowledge of CAM use may contribute to lower use of CAM by naturalized and non-U.S. citizens.
Department of Health Policy and Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA. bme5110@psu.edu.|Department of Demography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA. bme5110@psu.edu.|, 501F Ford Building, University Park, PA, 16801, USA. bme5110@psu.edu.
Bilikisu Reni
BR
Elewonibi
Department of Health Policy and Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.|Department of Demography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.
Rhonda
R
BeLue
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002755:Choice Behavior; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Complementary and alternative medicine prevalence; Immigrant health disparities; Immigrant healthcare access; Uses of complementary and alternative medicine