Preventive use of CAM among adults: United States 2007

Background

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used increasingly for both treatment of diseases and general wellness or general disease prevention. However, studies on the latter two subjects are still rare. This report presents selected estimates of preventive CAM use among U.S. adults using the 2007 National Health Interview Survey.

Methods

CAM use status as the main outcome measure was defined at 3 levels: preventive use, treatment use, and no use. Independent variables included predisposing, enabling, need, and disease state factors. Multiple multinomial regression models were conducted to assess the association of preventive CAM use with one characteristic after controlling for the rest. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant in all tests. All analyses used SAS and SUDAAN software. Results

In 2007, about 2 out of 10 adults had used CAM therapy for general wellness or general disease prevention in the past 12 months. Five CAM modalities that were dominantly (>50%) used preventively were massage, movement techniques, diets, Yoga-Tai chi-Qi gong, and relaxation techniques. U.S. adults are more likely to use CAM preventively are Middle-aged U.S. adults (40-64 years old), female, and Non-Hispanic white; have college or higher education, family income (>$35,000), mediate family size (2 persons per family); and live in the western U.S. than do nonusers.

Discussion

There are common factors associated with both preventive and treatment CAM uses. Differences between preventive CAM use and treatment CAM use warrant further studies. This study is limited as information about type of CAM usage is based on self-report.