Cargando…

A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women

BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that people who reside in non-urban areas have a higher use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) than people who reside in urban areas. However, there is sparse research on the reasons for such differences. This paper investigates the reasons for geographica...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Adams, Jon, Sibbritt, David, Broom, Alex, Loxton, Deborah, Pirotta, Marie, Humphreys, John, Lui, Chi-Wai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198987/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21981986
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-85
_version_ 1782214514876350464
author Adams, Jon
Sibbritt, David
Broom, Alex
Loxton, Deborah
Pirotta, Marie
Humphreys, John
Lui, Chi-Wai
author_facet Adams, Jon
Sibbritt, David
Broom, Alex
Loxton, Deborah
Pirotta, Marie
Humphreys, John
Lui, Chi-Wai
author_sort Adams, Jon
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that people who reside in non-urban areas have a higher use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) than people who reside in urban areas. However, there is sparse research on the reasons for such differences. This paper investigates the reasons for geographical differences in CAM use by comparing CAM users from four geographical areas (major cities, inner regional, outer region, rural/remote) across a range of health status, healthcare satisfaction, neighbourhood and community factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 1,427 participants from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) conducted in 2009. RESULTS: The average total cost of consultations with CAM practitioners was $416 per annum and was highest for women in the major cities, declining with increasing distance from capital cities/remoteness (p < 0.001). The average total cost of self-prescribed CAM was $349 per annum, but this did not significantly differ across geographical areas. The increased use of CAM in rural and remote areas appears to be influenced by poorer access to conventional medical care (p < 0.05) and a greater sense of community (p < 0.05) amongst these rural and remote residents. In contrast to the findings of previous research this study found that health status was not associated with the differences in CAM use between urban and non-urban areas. CONCLUSION: It appears that a number of factors influence the different levels of CAM use across the urban/non-urban divide. Further research is needed to help tease out and understand these factors. Such research will help support health care policy and practice with regards to this topic.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3198987
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-31989872011-10-23 A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women Adams, Jon Sibbritt, David Broom, Alex Loxton, Deborah Pirotta, Marie Humphreys, John Lui, Chi-Wai BMC Complement Altern Med Research Article BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that people who reside in non-urban areas have a higher use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) than people who reside in urban areas. However, there is sparse research on the reasons for such differences. This paper investigates the reasons for geographical differences in CAM use by comparing CAM users from four geographical areas (major cities, inner regional, outer region, rural/remote) across a range of health status, healthcare satisfaction, neighbourhood and community factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 1,427 participants from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) conducted in 2009. RESULTS: The average total cost of consultations with CAM practitioners was $416 per annum and was highest for women in the major cities, declining with increasing distance from capital cities/remoteness (p < 0.001). The average total cost of self-prescribed CAM was $349 per annum, but this did not significantly differ across geographical areas. The increased use of CAM in rural and remote areas appears to be influenced by poorer access to conventional medical care (p < 0.05) and a greater sense of community (p < 0.05) amongst these rural and remote residents. In contrast to the findings of previous research this study found that health status was not associated with the differences in CAM use between urban and non-urban areas. CONCLUSION: It appears that a number of factors influence the different levels of CAM use across the urban/non-urban divide. Further research is needed to help tease out and understand these factors. Such research will help support health care policy and practice with regards to this topic. BioMed Central 2011-10-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3198987/ /pubmed/21981986 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-85 Text en Copyright ©2011 Adams et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Adams, Jon
Sibbritt, David
Broom, Alex
Loxton, Deborah
Pirotta, Marie
Humphreys, John
Lui, Chi-Wai
A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title_full A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title_fullStr A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title_full_unstemmed A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title_short A comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: A national survey of 1,427 women
title_sort comparison of complementary and alternative medicine users and use across geographical areas: a national survey of 1,427 women
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198987/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21981986
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-85
work_keys_str_mv AT adamsjon acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT sibbrittdavid acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT broomalex acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT loxtondeborah acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT pirottamarie acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT humphreysjohn acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT luichiwai acomparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT adamsjon comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT sibbrittdavid comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT broomalex comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT loxtondeborah comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT pirottamarie comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT humphreysjohn comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women
AT luichiwai comparisonofcomplementaryandalternativemedicineusersanduseacrossgeographicalareasanationalsurveyof1427women