Practitioner-led complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies like acupuncture, massage, osteopathy and chiropractic treatment rose rapidly among adults, according to a survey led by researchers at the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care.// However, access to these treatments was unequal, with women, those who are better off and those in the south of England more likely to use CAM.
‘People with musculoskeletal problems like back pain and mental health problems like depression may get good advantage from CAM apart from routine allopathic care.’
Read More..Tweet it Now
The survey,funded by the National Institute for Health Research, undertaken by Ipsos MORI and published in BJGP Open, asked adults in England about their CAM use in the last 12 months. Out of a representative sample of 4,862 respondents aged 15 and over, 766 (16 per cent) said they had seen a CAM practitioner.Read More..
More women than men and more people in higher socioeconomic groups (A-C) than in lower socioeconomic groups (D-E) used CAM. CAM use was almost twice as high in the south of England compared with the North and Midlands.
The majority of CAM users either paid for treatment themselves or had it paid for by friends or family (67 per cent). Most CAM users self-referred (either found the practitioners themselves or through a recommendation from a friend or family) (70 per cent).
A small proportion were referred by their GP (17 per cent) or other health professional (four per cent) and more of these were from lower socioeconomic groups.
The main reasons for CAM use were for musculoskeletal problems, particularly back pain (38 per cent), and other musculoskeletal pain (neck pain, shoulder pain or knee pain) (22 per cent). Mental health accounted for 12 per cent of CAM use, including for minor depression, anxiety or stress (seven per cent) and sleep problems, tiredness or fatigue (four per cent).
Advertisement
Professor Debbie Sharp, from the Centre for Academic Primary Care and lead author of the study, said: "This survey shows that CAM is widely used by the general population, especially for musculoskeletal and mental health problems, with a slight increase in use since 2005.
Advertisement
Dr Ava Lorenc, co-author from the Centre for Academic Primary Care, added:
"Current UK health policy advocates patient-centred care and has a focus on prevention and patient self-management. Greater integration of CAM services into NHS primary care could address the inequality in access that we found, for example, through social prescribing.
This survey was part of a wider scoping study for a trial to test the effectiveness of CAM for people with both musculoskeletal and mental health problems, which we hope will add to the evidence-base for CAM."
### Paper:
'Complementary medicine use, views and experiences - a national survey in England' by Deborah Sharp, Ava Lorenc, Richard Morris, Gene Feder, Paul Little, Sandra Hollinghurst, Stewart Mercer and Hugh MacPherson in BJGP Open
Source-Eurekalert