Type of Multimorbidity and Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use among Adults
Table 1
Description of study sample and number and weighted percent with complementary and alternative medicine use, National Health Interview Survey 2012.
Total sample
Ever used CAM
Sig.
Wt. %
Wt. %
All
13,246
100.0
6,212
48.2
Gender
***
Women
7,738
54.4
3,839
51.5
Men
5,508
45.6
2,373
44.3
Race/ethnicity
***
White
8,941
75.1
4,710
52.4
African American
2,125
11.3
644
31.1
Latino
1,476
9.3
535
36.2
Other races
704
4.3
323
45.8
Age in years
***
22–39 years
1,545
12.1
809
52.4
40–49 years
1,711
14.9
865
50.5
50–64 years
4,658
36.9
2,322
51.4
65 and older
5,332
36.1
2,216
42.7
Marital status
***
Married
6,346
63.1
3,125
50.4
Wid./Div./Sep.
5,154
26.9
2,293
44.4
Never married
1,724
10.0
781
44.8
Education level
***
LT high school
2,421
15.6
695
29.0
High school
3,709
28.1
1,491
42.0
GT high school
7,067
56.2
4,016
56.9
Poverty status
***
Poor
2,239
12.4
730
34.0
Near poor
2,565
16.4
1,066
41.5
Middle income
3,321
26.0
1,638
48.6
High income
3,588
33.0
2,122
58.0
Missing
1533
12.2
656
44.6
Insurance
Insured
11,869
90.1
5,578
48.4
Uninsured
1,352
9.9
625
46.7
General health
***
Excellent
1,409
11.6
776
55.5
Very good
3,351
27.5
1,786
53.2
Good
4,628
34.6
2,154
47.9
Fair
2,801
19.0
1,095
41.0
Poor
1,050
7.3
400
38.7
Functional limitation
***
Yes
8,535
62.0
4,091
50.0
No
4,700
38.0
2,118
45.4
Body mass index
Underweight
180
1.2
75
43.7
Normal weight
3,204
23.1
1,555
50.6
Overweight
4,521
35.1
2,120
47.7
Obese
4,957
37.5
2,275
47.5
Missing
384
3.1
187
47.6
Smoking status
***
Never smoke
6,473
48.4
2,987
47.1
Past smoker
4,178
33.0
2,098
51.6
Current smoker
2,575
18.6
1,121
45.1
Alcohol drinking
***
Lifetime abstainer
2,795
18.7
952
34.4
Former drinker
5,004
37.2
2,313
47.8
Current drinker
5,343
43.4
2,911
54.7
Missing
104
0.7
36
35.1
Physical activity
***
Daily
735
5.4
396
55.3
Weekly
2,970
24.8
1,779
59.3
Monthly/yearly
8,868
65.2
3,782
44.2
Unable to do
590
4.0
218
36.2
Missing
83
0.6
37
45.0
Region
***
Northeast
2,193
17.2
1,003
45.2
Midwest
2,814
23.4
1,484
53.3
South
5,021
38.2
1,887
40.8
West
3,218
21.3
1,838
58.5
Note. Based on 13,246 adults, age over 21 years, having at least two or more chronic physical illnesses or one or more chronic physical illnesses with mental illness. Chronic physical illnesses consisted of diabetes, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, arthritis, cancer, and respiratory diseases. Mental illnesses consisted of depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental health disorders. Percentages may not add to 100 due to missing data in marital status, education level, insurance, general health, functional status, and smoking status. Asterisks represent significant group differences by complementary and alternative medicine use based on chi-square tests. Wt.: weighted; CAM: complementary and alternative medicine; LT: less than; GT: greater than; Wid./Div./Sep.: widowed, divorced, and separated. *** < .001; **.001 ≤ < .01; *.01 ≤ < .05.
