Page 91 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

EXHIBIT 4.1. Selected Results of the 2002 National Health
Interview Survey: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Use Among Adults, United States, 2002.
USE OF COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

■ Seventy-five percent of adults age 18 and over have ever used CAM when prayer
specifi cally for health reasons was included in the defi nition.
■ Sixty-two percent of adults have used CAM during the past 12 months when prayer
specifi cally for health reasons was included in the defi nition.
■ The ten CAM therapies most commonly used within the past 12 months measured

in terms of the percentage of U.S. adults were prayer specifically for one’s own health
(43.0%), prayer by others for one’s own health (24.4%), natural products (18.9%), deep
breathing exercises (11.6%), participation in prayer group for one’s own health (9.6%),
meditation (7.6%), chiropractic care (7.5%), yoga (5.1%), massage (5.0%), and diet-
based therapies (3.5%).
■ Of the ten CAM therapies most commonly used within the past 12 months, most

were mind-body interventions. Forty-five percent of adults used some method of
prayer for health reasons within the past 12 months.
■ The two most widely used diet-based therapies by U.S. adults were the Atkins diet (1.7%)
and the vegetarian diet (1.6%).
USE OF CAM BY SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS
■ Women were more likely than men to use CAM. The largest sex differential is seen in
the use of mind-body therapies including prayer specifi cally for health reasons.
■ For all therapies combined, CAM use was more likely among older adults than younger
adults.
■ If prayer specifi cally for health reasons is excluded from the defi nition of CAM, all the
CAM categories demonstrated inverse “U” relationships with age, with the youngest
and oldest groups reporting the least use of CAM.
■ Black adults (68.3%) were more likely to use mind-body therapies including prayer
specifi cally for health reasons than white adults (50.1%) or Asian adults (48.1%).
■ Asian adults were more likely (43.1%) to use CAM (excluding megavitamin therapy and
prayer specifically for health reasons) than white adults (35.9%) or black adults (26.2%).

■ White adults (12.0%) were more likely to use manipulative and body-based therapies
than Asian adults (7.2%) or black adults (4.4%).
■ Non-Hispanic adults were more likely than Hispanic adults to use mind-body thera-

pies excluding prayer specifically for health reasons and less likely to use mind-body
therapies including prayer specifi cally for health reasons.
■ Except for the groups of therapies that included prayer specifi cally for health reasons,
use of CAM increased as education level increased.
Source: Barnes et al., 2004.

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