Comparative Use of Complementary Medicine, Allied Health, and Manual Therapies by Middle-Aged and Older Australian Women

Abstract

We compared use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) and therapies, Allied Health interventions (AH), and Manual Therapies (MT) in middle-aged and older Australian women. Cross-sectional data from the 2007 phase of the Longitudinal study of Aging in Women (LAW study) was analyzed. Self-reported 12-month usage patterns of CAM, AH, and MT were determined by mailed questionnaire. Results revealed that 56.2% of the middle-aged group, and 55.0% of the older group used CAM, AH, and MT services in the previous 12 months (a nonsignificant difference). In contrast, there was a highly significant difference between the overall use of CAM products by middle-aged women (88.2%) and older women (67.7%: p = .002).

Keywords:

• women
• older women
• aging
• complementary medicine
• herbal medicine
• complementary medicine use

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the women of the LAW study for their active participation and Liz Arnold for assistance with data retrieval and synthesis. Soo Keat Khoo, Sheila O'Neill, Nancy Pachana, and Robert King were instrumental in the establishment of the LAW study. This study was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (ID 456182).