CAM Use on the Rise by American Adults

CAM Use on the Rise by American Adults

BETHESDA, Md.According to a nationwide survey conducted as part of the Centers for Disease and Preventions (CDC) 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 36 percent of U.S. adults used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) during the previous 12 months. And when prayer specifically for health reasons is included in the definition of CAM, the percentage of U.S. adults using some form of CAM rose to 62 percent. The survey was developed by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) (http://nccam.nih.gov) and the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and included interviews from 31,044 adults age 18 or older.

These new findings confirm the extent to which Americans have turned to CAM approaches with the hope that they would help treat and prevent disease and enhance quality of life, said Stephen E. Strauss, M.D., director of NCCAM. The data not only assists us in understanding who is using CAM, what is being used and why, but also in studying relationships between CAM use and other health characteristics, such as chronic health conditions, insurance coverage and health behaviors.

Survey results indicate CAM was most often used to treat back pain or back problems, head or chest colds, neck pain or neck problems, joint pain or stiffness, and anxiety or depression. The 10 most commonly used CAM therapies and the percentage of U.S. adults using each therapy are: prayer for own health (43 percent); prayer by others for the respondent's health (24 percent); natural products, such as herbs, other botanicals and enzymes (19 percent); deep breathing exercises (12 percent); participation in prayer group for own health (10 percent); meditation (8 percent); chiropractic care (8 percent); yoga (5 percent); massage (5 percent); and diet-based therapies, such as Atkins, Pritikin, Ornish and Zone diets (4 percent).

The reasons people use CAM therapies was also discussed in survey results. Fifty-five percent of adults said they were most likely to use CAM because they believed CAM combined with conventional medical treatments would help them; half used CAM because they thought it would be interesting to try, a quarter used CAM because a conventional medical professional suggested they try it, a quarter used CAM because they felt conventional medicine would not help them with their health problem, and 13 percent used CAM because they felt conventional medicine was too expensive.

Researchers also found CAM use was greater among women, people with higher education, those who had been hospitalized within the past year and former smokers.

According to NCCAM, the survey provides the most comprehensive and reliable data to date describing CAM use by the U.S. adult population.

While there have been many surveys of CAM use, most surveys included fewer choices of CAM therapies (the current survey included 27 types of CAM) and often surveyed smaller population samples primarily relying on telephone or mail surveys, rather than the in-person interviews used for the current study.

I am pleased to see that the widespread use of Echinacea by American adults has finally been substantiated. This report will undoubtedly help guide NCCAM research dollars to find out more about these very beneficial plants, said Steven Dentali, vice president of scientific and technical affairs at the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA).