NIH and CDC release results of large-scale survey on complementary/alternative medicine use

NIH and CDC release results of large-scale survey on complementary/alternative medicine use

At a May 27th teleconference, the National Institutues of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease3 Control and Prevention (CDC) released the results of a joint survey studying the use of alternative and complementary medicine (CAM) by adults in the US. The CAM questions were part of a supplement to the adult questionnaire of the 2002 National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Using computer-assisted personal interviews, researchers collected data from more than 31,000 people.

According to the survey, approximately 40% of people who use natural products as complementary and alternative medicine take the botanical Echinacea, primarily for chest and head colds. Use of echinacea is almost double that of ginseng, the next most widely used herbal.

Results show the most common conditions prompting CAM use was back or chest pain (16.8%), followed by head or chest cold (9.5%), neck pain (6.6%), and joint pain or stiffness (5%). Surprisingly, a significant number (6.6%) of respondents reported that they still use kava kava, despite stringent warnings in 2002 linking its use to liver damage.

In addition to natural products use, the survey sought information on use of alternative therapies such as prayer, deep breathing exercises, yoga and massage. For therapies used during the past 12 months, respondents were asked about the health problem or condition being treated, the reason for choosing the therapy, whether the cost of the therapy was covered by insurance, their satisfaction with the treatment, and whether any of their conventional medical professionals knew they were using the therapy.

This recent survey is hailed as the most comprehensive and reliable data describing contemporary CAM use in the US. The results are thought to be more representative of the nation’s adult population than previous studies, as well as containing an adequate sample size to allow careful investigation into subgroups. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine expects to use the survey data as a baseline for future comparisons and as a strategic tool in guiding future investments in research and research training.

The full report, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002, is available at nccam.nih.gov/news/report.pdf.