Race/ethnicity are Independently Associated with Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Medicine and Law Weekly
08/27/2006
Investigators at Columbia University report, "We studied the use of
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among women in 4 racial/ethnic
groups: non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Chinese
Americans."
"We obtained a nationally representative sample of women aged 18 years and
older living in the United States in 2001. Oversampling obtained 800
interviews in each group, resulting in a sample of 3068 women," explained F.
Kronenberg and colleagues.
"Between one third and one half of the members of all groups reported using at
least 1 CAM modality in the year preceding the survey," they determined. "In
bivariate analyses, overall CAM use among Whites surpassed that of other
groups; however, when CAM use was adjusted for socioeconomic factors, use by
Whites and Mexican Americans were equivalent. Despite the socioeconomic
disadvantage of African American women, socioeconomic factors did not account
for differences in CAM use between Whites and African Americans."
"CAM use among racial/ethnic groups is complex and nuanced," concluded the
researchers. "Patterns of CAM use domains differ among groups, and
multivariate models of CAM use indicate that ethnicity plays an independent
role in the use of CAM modalities, the use of CAM practitioners, and the
health problems for which CAM is used."
Kronenberg and colleagues published their study in the American Journal of
Public Health (Race/ethnicity and women's use of complementary, and
alternative medicine in the United States: Results of a national survey. Am J
Public Health, 2006;96(7):1236- 1242).