ArticleBMC complementary medicine and therapies2025
The association between health anxiety and visits to traditional and complementary medicine providers in Norway: the Tromsø7 Study.
Article in BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundReassurance-seeking behaviour as a symptom of health anxiety (HA) is proposed as one important reason for healthcare use in conventional healthcare. However, we know little about the association between HA and traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM), especially for provider visits. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by examining the association between HA and T&CM provider visits in a large, adult general population.
methodsThis study used cross-sectional data from the seventh survey (2015-2016) of the Tromsø Study, where 19 639 participants responded to questions about visits to T&CMs providers the past 12 months, as well as a questionnaire on HA. T&CM visits were registered as (1) a complementary medicine (CM) provider, (2) an acupuncturist, (3) a traditional healer (TM), or (4) any of the above. Whiteley Index-6-R was used to measure HA as a continuous construct ranging from 0 to 24. Logistic regression was used to analyse the associations. Mental and somatic illness, demographic and socioeconomic variables were included as confounders.
resultsHA was significantly and positively associated with visits to all T&CM practitioners, where a 1-point increase in the HA score was associated with 5-7% higher odds for visits across all types of T&CM practitioner categories. The results were not significantly altered by adjusting for mental and somatic illness, demographic nor socioeconomic variables for the population as a whole, but interaction analyses showed that HA was not significantly associated with visits to TM providers in participants reporting multimorbidity. Moreover, HA was more strongly associated with CM provider use in men, than women.
conclusionsIn our large, adult general population, we found consistent and significant associations between HA and visits to a T&CM provider. This can indicate that HA warrants recognition in T&CM visits.
trial registrationNot applicable.
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