Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease

Table 3

Lifetime prevalence of overall CAM use among patients with ESRD on MHD by patient characteristics (%)^a.

	No CAM use (𝑛=35)	Any CAM use; (𝑛=54)
Percentage of all patients	39	61
Age (years)^b
18–34	9	4
35–49	20	15
50–64	20	52
65–79	31	22
≥80	20	7
Female	37	54
Race
White	29	30
Black	63	63
Other	9	8
Dialysis vintage (years)
<1	23	30
1–4	34	44
5–9	34	17
≥10	9	9
Principal ESRD diagnosis
Diabetes mellitus	49	61
Hypertension	20	9
Glomerulonephritis	9	11
HIVAN	6	6
Other	17	13
Employment status	(𝑛=34)	(𝑛=51)
Employed full or part time	12	18
Retired	53	24
Disabled	35	59
Education level	(𝑛=27)	(𝑛=41)
Postgraduate degree	7	12
College degree	4	15
Vocational or high school degree	70	61
Grade school or lower	19	12
BMI ± SD	(𝑛=23) 30.3±10.7	(𝑛=41) 26.3±6.3

CAM: complementary and alternative medicine; ESRD: end-stage renal disease; MHD: maintenance hemodialysis; HIVAN: HIV-associated nephropathy; and BMI ± SD: body mass index ± standard deviation.
^aFigures are percentages of patients based on the number (𝑛) in each group.
^bWithin group differences significant between any CAM use or CAM modality and no CAM use with P < 0.05 by Fisher’s exact test.