ArticleBMC health services research2010
Health need and the use of alternative medicine among adults who do not use conventional medicine.
Article in BMC health services research, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Contemplative practices serve as complementary mental health strategies in nationally representative samples from Australia and New Zealand.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Nationally Representative Rates of Incident Prescription Opioid Use Among United States Adults and Selected Subpopulations: Longitudinal Cohort Study From the National Health Interview Survey, 2019 to 2020.The journal of pain · 2024Article
- Determinants of Knowledge About Dietary Supplements Among Polish Internet Users: Nationwide Cross-sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Article
- Prevalence and patterns of use of mantra, mindfulness and spiritual meditation among adults in the United States.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Article
- Changes in the use practitioner-based complementary and alternative medicine over time in Canada: Cohort and period effects.PloS one · 2017Article
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Influenza Vaccine Uptake in US Children.Pediatrics · 2016Article
- Processes and Outcomes from a Medical Student Research Training Program in Integrative, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation · 2016Article
- Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures on Complementary Health Approaches Associated With Painful Health Conditions in a Nationally Representative Adult Sample.The journal of pain · 2015Article
- Trends in the use of complementary health approaches among adults: United States, 2002-2012.National health statistics reports · 2015Article
- Limited Health Knowledge as a Reason for Non-Use of Four Common Complementary Health Practices.PloS one · 2015Article
- Effect of a brief seated massage on nursing student attitudes toward touch for comfort care.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2014Article
- Prevalence and predictors of children's dietary supplement use: the 2007 National Health Interview Survey.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2013Article
- Disease severity is associated with the use of complementary medicine to treat or manage type-2 diabetes: data from the 2002 and 2007 National Health Interview Survey.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2012Article
- Use of dietary supplements for cognitive health: results of a national survey of adults in the United States.American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias · 2012Article
- Effects of berberine and hwangryunhaedok-tang on oral bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of ciprofloxacin in rats.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe hypothesize that a substantial portion of individuals who forgo conventional care in a given year turn to some form of alternative medicine. This study also examines whether individuals who use only alternative medicine will differ substantially in health and sociodemographic status from individuals using neither alternative medicine nor conventional care in a given year. To identify those factors that predict alternative medicine use in those not using conventional care, we employed the socio-behavioral model of healthcare utilization.
methodsThe current study is a cross-sectional regression analysis using data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey. Data were collected in-person from 31,044 adults throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
results19.3% of adults (38.3 million) did not use conventional care in a 12 month period, although 39.5% of these individuals (14.7 million) reported having one or more problems with their health. Of those not using conventional care, 24.8% (9.5 million) used alternative medicine. Users of alternative medicine had more health needs and were more likely to delay conventional care because of both cost and non-cost factors compared to those not using alternative medicine. While individual predisposing factors (gender, education) were positively associated with alternative medicine use, enabling factors (poverty status, insurance coverage) were not.
conclusionsWe found that a quarter of individuals who forgo conventional care in a given year turn towards alternative medicine. Our study suggests that the potential determinants of using only alternative medicine are multifactorial. Future research is needed to examine the decision process behind an individual's choice to use alternative medicine but not conventional medicine and the clinical outcomes of this choice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.