TABLE 2—
Prevalence of CAM Use, by Racial/Ethnic Group
| Non-Hispanic Whites, % (n = 747) | African Americans, % (n = 1081) | Mexican Americans, % (n = 1057) | Chinese Americans, % (n = 1026)a | |
| CAM use (any of 11 CAM domains) religion/spirituality omitted** | 51.6 | 37.9 | 36.4 | 40.8 |
| CAM use (any of 12 CAM domains) spirituality/religion included | 64.4 | 57.4 | 43.7 | 43.5 |
| Use of specific CAM domains | ||||
| Vitamins/nutritional supplements** | 27.0 | 16.5 | 9.8 | 4.1 |
| Medicinal herbs and teas** | 16.7 | 14.1 | 18.4 | 12.2 |
| Chiropractic care** | 16.2 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.9 |
| Mind/body practices (yoga, meditation, tai chi, chi gong)** | 13.2 | 5.0 | 2.8 | 5.7 |
| Manual therapies (massage, acupressure)** | 13.1 | 7.2 | 8.2 | 8.8 |
| Homeopathya** | 8.1 | 3.2 | 3.9 | NA |
| Special diets (not for weight loss)* | 4.4 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 1.8 |
| Acupuncture** | 2.5 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 7.8 |
| Remedies associated with a particular culture (e.g., TCM, Ayurveda)a | 2.6 | 1.9 | 3.1 | NA |
| Prepackaged Chinese medicines without prescriptiona | NA | NA | NA | 18.0 |
| Prescription Chinese medicinesa | NA | NA | NA | 7.2 |
| Energy therapiesa | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.2 | NA |
| Other alternative remedies | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 1.4 |
| Spirituality/religion/prayer | 37.1 | 42.8 | 18.8 | 6.9 |
| CAM use and physician visits during the previous 12 months | ||||
| Neither | 18.6 | 29.6 | 43.4 | 31.1 |
| Saw physician; did not use CAM | 29.9 | 32.4 | 20.1 | 28.0 |
| Used CAM; did not see physician | 15.0 | 11.7 | 16.0 | 16.2 |
| Both | 36.5 | 26.3 | 20.5 | 24.7 |
Note. CAM = complementary and alternative medicine; TCM = traditional Chinese medicine; NA = not applicable. The subsamples were weighted to account for selection probability in households with more than 1 eligible woman.
aHomeopathy, remedies associated with a particular culture, and energy therapies were not included in the survey of Chinese American women. Instead, culturally specific questions about the use of Chinese traditional medicine were included.
* P < .05; **P < .01 for between-group differences, based on χ2 tests.