Complementary and alternative medicine use among older adults: ethnic variation.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used in the United States, but information is lacking on CAM use among older minority adults. This analysis documents CAM use among Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White adults age > or =65 and delineates the importance of ethnicity in predicting CAM use.

METHODS:
Data are from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The 2002 NHIS oversampled Blacks and Hispanics and included a special module on CAM use. Logistic regression models were fit to examine the effects of ethnicity, sex, age, educational attainment, number of health conditions, and US census region on any CAM use and use of CAM within five major groupings.

RESULTS:
27.7% of older adults use CAM, with the highest level of use among Asians (48.6%), followed by Hispanics (31.6%), Whites (27.7%), and Blacks (20.5%). Asian elders have significantly greater odds than Whites of using any CAM, alternative medical system, biologically based therapies, and mind-body medicine and lower odds of using body-based and manipulative methods. Hispanic elders have greater odds than Whites of using any CAM and biologically-based therapies. Black elders differ significantly from Whites only in their lesser use of body-based and manipulative methods. Overall, more women than men are CAM users. CAM use declines amongthose age > or =75 years.

CONCLUSION:
CAM is an important component of older adults' health self-management, and research should examine how they learn about CAM and delineate the decision process in selecting CAM modalities.

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Author information

Author/s: Arcury, Thomas A (TA); Suerken, Cynthia K (CK); Grzywacz, Joseph G (JG); Bell, Ronny A (RA); Lang, Wei (W); Quandt, Sara A (SA);

Affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem NC 27157-1084, USA. tarcury(-atsign-)wfubmc.edu

Grants: R21 AT002241 (Agency:NCCAM NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Ethnicity & disease (Ethn Dis), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 16 (issue 3) : pp 723-31

Dates: Created 2006/08/29; Completed 2006/10/06; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16937611, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

African Americans - statistics & numerical data
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Asian Americans - statistics & numerical data
Complementary Therapies - utilization
European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data
Female
Health Status

Health Status
Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology
Socioeconomic Factors
United States

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