December 21, 2005 – The results of a recent epidemiological study1 indicate that baby boomers use complementary medicine more than their elders. Their children would also follow this trend.
California researchers have surveyed more than 30,000 adults about their use of alternative therapies and the reasons for such choice. Data indicates that 42.6% of people aged 45 to 54 had used complementary and alternative medicine at least once in the past year. Just over 40% of those aged 55 to 64 had done the same.
Their elders had used them in a much smaller proportion: 30.9% for those 65 to 74, 25.8% for those 75 to 84, and only 18.3% for those over 85.
According to the researchers, the explanation for this statistical phenomenon is mainly due to the fact that alternative treatments were mainly developed during the 1960s and 1970s, when the baby boomers were still young. These changes in the approach to the disease and the tendency to emphasize prevention would have allowed the emergence of new behaviors in this generation, born after the Second World War (from 1945 to 1959 approximately).
The data also shows that the youngest seem to follow the same path: 40% of subjects aged 35 to 44 and 37.9% of those aged 25 to 34 have also used these therapies. The researchers estimate that the use of complementary and alternative medicine will increase in this age group when its people in turn have to cope with aging.
Previous studies, conducted with smaller groups, already indicated the growing popularity of alternative therapies2,3,4.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to MediResource.
1. Grzywacz JG, Lang W, Suerken C, Quandt SA, Bell RA, Arcury TA. Age, race, and ethnicity in the use of complementary and alternative medicine for health self-management: evidence from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, J Aging Health., 2005 Oct; 17 (5): 547-72.
2. Kessler RC, Davis RB, Foster DF, et al. Long-term trends in the use of complementary and alternative medical therapies in the United States, Ann Intern Med, 2001 Aug 21; 135 (4): 262-8.
3. Eisenberg DM, Kessler RC, Foster C, et al. Unconventional medicine in the United States. Prevalence, costs, and patterns of use, N Engl J Med1993 Jan 28; 328 (4): 246-52.
4. Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, et al. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey, JAMA. 1998 Nov 11; 280 (18): 1569-75.
