title: Characteristics of Adults Who Used Mindfulness Meditation: United States, 2012.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe estimates of the number and characteristics of persons who had used mindfulness meditation in the U.S.
  
  
  METHODS
  
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 108,131 adults from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey were weighted to produce national estimates representative of the U.S.
  
  
  METHODS
  Persons who used mindfulness meditation were identified by their response to the question "During the past 12 months, did you use mindfulness meditation?"
  
  
  RESULTS
  An estimated 2,029,720 adults had used mindfulness meditation. Compared with those who did not meditate, more meditators endorsed moderate exercise (79.6% vs. 54.8%; p < 0.0001). More meditators had low-back and neck pain and headache (36.7% vs. 28.9 [p = 0.0002]; 26.4% vs. 14.7% [p<0.0001]; 19.1% vs. 12.1% [p<0.0001], respectively). More meditators reported being nervous or feeling sad at least a little of the time (60.4% vs. 37.8% and 34% vs. 23.5%, respectively; p<0.0001) and being frequently stressed (56.4% vs. 29.0%; p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mindfulness meditation was used by an estimated 2,029,720 adults in the United States in 2012. More meditators than nonmeditators reported more pain and reported feeling nervous or sad and being stressed, suggesting a reason for using mindfulness meditation.
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of General Internal Medicine, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine , Pittsburgh, PA.|2 Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine , Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Natalia E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Morone
authors.affiliation: 3 Dickson Advanced Analytics, Carolinas HealthCare System , Charlotte, NC.
authors.forename: Charity G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine , Center for Integrative Medicine at UPMC, Shadyside, PA.
authors.forename: Carol M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Greco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: NHIS; meditation; mindfulness; population estimate