Reasons Why Older Americans Use Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Costly or Ineffective Conventional Medicine and Recommendations from Health Care Providers, Family, and Friends

Abstract

We studied four reasons why older adults use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Data were from the 2007 U.S. National Health Interview Survey and its Complementary and Alternative Medicine supplement (n = 10,096, ages 50+, representing 89.5 million adults). Logistic analyses adjusted for the sampling design and were weighted for national representation. A sample representing 25 million older adults said they used CAM because a health care provider recommended it. Other reasons were recommendations by family, friends, or coworkers (20.2 million), ineffective conventional medicine (5.2 million), and costs of conventional medicine (4.0 million). In adjusted results, women were more likely than men to use CAM for all four reasons. African Americans and Hispanics were less likely than Whites to use CAM for most of these reasons. The uninsured were much more likely to use CAM because conventional medicine was too expensive. Those with higher incomes were less likely to do so. Older adults with chronic conditions, especially musculoskeletal conditions or depression, were more likely to use CAM for most of these reasons. Health providers may be particularly likely to recommend CAM for chronic conditions. These recommendations may be reinforced by limited efficacy of conventional medicine for these conditions and its cost. CAM and conventional medicines can interact, causing risks to health. It is, therefore, useful to help health care providers identify patients most likely to use CAM and their reasons for doing so. These are the patients most likely to benefit from conversations about CAM interactions with conventional medicine.

Notes

^a Data source: 2007 National Health Interview Survey, n = 10,096. Percentages account for the complex survey design, and are weighted for national representation. CI = Confidence Interval; because participants could indicate multiple chronic conditions, the percentages in that category do not sum to 100.

^a Data source: 2007 National Health Interview Survey; OR = Odds Ratio; UB, LB = Upper and lower bounds of the 95% confidence interval; BMI = body mass index; A data entry of 1 for the Odds Ratio indicates that the covariate value is the reference category for the given variable.