Non Medical Care Usage Continues to
Rise
A study by Harvard Medical School, published in the August 21, 2001
issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, examined trends in the use of 20
different CAMs (Complementary and Alternative Medicine), covering
everything from acupuncture to yoga, among representative groups across
the U.S. The study continued to show that the use of what the study
termed "CAM" has continued to rise. The study was done by a
nationally representative telephone survey of 2055 people.
The results showed
that approximately 3 of every 10 respondents in the pre–baby boom
cohort, 5 of 10 in the baby boom cohort, and 7 of 10 in the post–baby
boom cohort reported using some type of CAM therapy by age 33 years.
The study also noted that of the respondents who ever used a CAM therapy,
nearly half continued to use it many years later. A wide range of
individual CAM therapies increased in use over time, and the growth was
similar across all major sociodemographic sectors of the study population.
The term CAM is a medically created term that may itself not be very
representative as most of the procedures included in the list are neither
complimentary or alternatives to medicine. In fact many such as
chiropractic are completely separate primary health care professions that
are not even considered alternative in many references.
The conclusion of the Harvard study as published in the Annals of
Internal Medicine, was that the "Use of CAM therapies by a large
proportion of the study sample is the result of a secular trend that began
at least a half century ago. This trend suggests a continuing demand for
CAM therapies that will affect health care delivery for the foreseeable
future."
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