Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among patients with arthritis, and other musculoskeletal diseases in the United States

Objective: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50 million Americans have diagnosed arthritis. The purpose of our study is twofold: 1) estimate the prevalence of CAM use, and 2) examine correlates of CAM utilization among persons with chronic lower back pain, neck pain, arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis, or musculoskeletal disease; 2) examine correlates of CAM utilization in the target population. Methods: Data for 9,724 adult Americans from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and CAM supplement were weighted and analyzed using Stata software version 12 for Windows. In addition to descriptive and bivariate statistics, multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds of CAM use by selected covariates. Results: 36% of participants with arthritis and musculoskeletal disease were in the South; 79.6 % were white; 62% reported back pain; 32.2% had neck pain; 52.5% had arthritis, and 7.9% had other musculoskeletal diseases. CAM use was significantly associated with the following: age (OR: 1.01: p=0.01); female gender (OR:1.46; p=0.000); being divorced/widowed (OR: 0.84; p=0.03); being un-married (OR: 0.85; p=0.05); having high school diploma (OR:1.26; p=0.01); having a college education (OR: 1.38; p=0.001); having neck pain (OR: 0.84; p=0.02); living in the South (OR: 1.24; p=0.009), and living in the Western United States (OR: 1.21; p=0.04). Conclusion: Further, policy implications for strategies for prevention and increasing access to care will be discussed