U.S. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults and Children, 2007

2007 data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in the United States. The report, authored by Patricia M. Barnes of the National Center for Health Statistics, provides estimates for adults and children, including prevalence by therapy type and demographic group. It also compares trends with 2002 data.

Use Cases

• Analyze demographic disparities in CAM use based on reported racial/ethnic group usage rates.
• Model the relationship between parental and child CAM use based on the reported correlation.
• Track trends in specific therapy adoption (e.g., acupuncture, yoga) between 2002 and 2007.
• Investigate the association between cost concerns for conventional care and CAM use.

Strengths

• Provides specific prevalence percentages for adults (almost 4 in 10) and children (11.8%) using CAM.
• Includes detailed breakdowns by therapy type (e.g., 17.7% for natural products) and demographic group (e.g., 50.3% for American Indian/Alaska Native adults).
• Enables trend analysis by comparing data points from the 2002 and 2007 National Health Interview Surveys.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Collection Method

Survey data from the Complementary and Alternative Medicine supplements and Core components of the 2007 and 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Time Range

2007, with comparative data from 2002.

Geography

United States