[Omeo33] Art 1019 - J Adol Health, 2002, 30 (2), 105

[Gino Santini]

Complementary and alternative medicine use in children and adolescents
Susan M. Yussman, Peggy Auinger, Michael Weitzman and Sheryl A. Ryan

Purpose: To determine the prevalence, patterns, costs, and predictors  
of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in a nationally  
representative sample of children and adolescents.
Methods: The 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a  
nationally representative household sample, provided data on 7,371  
subjects <21 years of age. The primary outcome variable was CAM use as  
defined by parental report of consulting a CAM provider ‘for health  
reasons.‘ Predictors included sociodemographic factors such as  
gender, age, ethnicity, region of the country, family income, health  
insurance status, and parental CAM use, as well as perceptions and use  
of conventional medical care. Bivariate analyses using χ2 tests,  
followed by logistic regression using SUDAAN determined independent  
factors associated with CAM use.
Results: Overall, 2.0% used CAM; of those, only 10.0% disclosed this  
use to their usual source of care (USC). The most common CAM providers  
were chiropractors (36.0%), clergy or spiritualists (23.5%), and  
massage therapists (14.0%). The most common types of therapies were  
spiritual healing (27.2%) and herbal remedies (16.9%). Of those with  
CAM use, mean number of visits in the last year to a CAM provider was  
8.5, mean dollars spent in one year on CAM visits was $73.40 and on  
remedies was $13.06. Logistic regression showed the following to be  
significantly independently associated with greater likelihood of CAM  
use: female gender (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1–2.7), older adolescent age  
(OR = 2.7, 1.3–5.8 for 15–17 years; OR = 3.2, 1.6–6.6 for 18–21  
years), parental CAM use (OR = 47.2, 23.7–94.0 for both parents; OR =  
8.8, 4.5–16.9 for mother only), and greater number of conventional  
medical office visits in the last year (OR = 4.4, 2.1–9.0 for ≥6  
visits). For those with a USC, parental dissatisfaction with quality  
of care was also independently associated (OR = 3.0, 1.0–8.8). All p  
values < .05.
Conclusion: This study presents the first nationally representative  
data on CAM use in the pediatric and adolescent population. Two  
percent of parents report that their children and adolescents consult  
a CAM provider ‘for health reasons’’ and that they rarely  
disclose to their USC. Higher utilization of and dissatisfaction with  
conventional medical care, as well as parental CAM use, are most  
predictive of children and adolescent CAM use in the United States.

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