141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

289948
Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among patients with arthritis, and other musculoskeletal diseases in the United States

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Justice Mbizo, Dr.PH , School of Allied Health and Health Sciences/Master of Public Health Program, The University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Anthony Okafor, PhD , Mathematics and Statistics, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Erica Holland, MPH , Master of Public Health Program, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
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

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Epidemiology
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the prevalence of cam use among persons with chronic lower back pain, neck pain, arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis, or musculoskeletal disease; Describe the correlates of CAM use among persons with chronic lower back pain, neck pain, arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis, or musculoskeletal disease; Describe the public health significance of chronic lower back pain, neck pain, arthritis/rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal disease

Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Alternative Medicine/Therapies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: The author and presenter is a graduate faculty with a research focus in chronic disease epidemiology and has presented on CAM topics at APHA. I also teach graduate courses in epidemiological research methods.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.