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. 2011 Apr 11;11:27. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-27

Table 1.

Demographic and military characteristics of 2004-2006 active-duty Millennium Cohort participants by complementary and alternative medicine use (N = 44287)

No CAM use n = 26982 Practitioner-assisted CAM* use n = 12717 Self-administered CAM*† use n = 11996
Characteristic n (%) n (%) n (%)
Sex
 Male 20533 (65.3) 7786 (24.8) 7452 (23.7)
 Female 6449 (50.2) 4931 (38.4) 4544 (35.4)
Birth year
 Pre-1960 2587 (63.9) 970 (23.9) 1011 (25.0)
 1960-1969 7915 (64.2) 3114 (25.2) 2943 (23.9)
 1970-1979 7823 (60.5) 3790 (29.3) 3526 (27.3)
 1980 and later 8657 (57.8) 4843 (32.3) 4516 (30.2)
Race/ethnicity
 White, non-Hispanic 18065 (60.8) 8517 (28.7) 8100 (27.3)
 Black, Non-Hispanic 3735 (60.7) 1787 (29.1) 1668 (27.1)
 Other 5177 (61.5) 2412 (28.7) 2227 (26.5)
 Missing data 5 (0.0) 1 (0.0) 1 (0.0)
Education level
 High school diploma or less 17841 (60.4) 8685 (29.4) 8317 (28.2)
 Some college 3769 (61.6) 1633 (26.7) 1605 (26.2)
 Bachelor's degree 2871 (61.9) 1311 (28.3) 1155 (24.9)
 Graduate school 2498 (62.7) 1086 (27.3) 918 (23.1)
 Missing data 3 (0.0) 2 (0.0) 1 (0.0)
Marital status
 Never married 9693 (57.0) 5542 (32.6) 5215 (30.7)
 Married 16076 (64.1) 6451 (25.7) 6095 (24.3)
 Divorced 1213 (55.2) 724 (32.9) 686 (31.2)
Military pay grade
 Officer 3957 (63.1) 1743 (27.8) 1386 (22.1)
 Enlisted 23025 (60.6) 10974 (28.9) 10610 (27.9)
Service branch
 Army 10368 (59.8) 5056 (29.2) 4910 (28.3)
 Navy and Coast Guard 5877 (59.1) 2987 (30.1) 2910 (29.3)
 Marine Corps 1733 (59.9) 918 (31.7) 745 (25.7)
 Air Force 9004 (63.7) 3756 (26.6) 3431 (24.3)
Military occupation
 Combat specialists 4955 (62.5) 2186 (27.6) 1992 (25.1)
 Electronic equip. repair 2802 (64.8) 1120 (25.9) 1057 (24.4)
 Comm/intelligence 2531 (58.8) 1346 (31.3) 1226 (28.5)
 Health care 2326 (52.0) 1573 (35.2) 1573 (35.2)
 Other technical/allied 824 (59.5) 405 (29.3) 392 (28.3)
 Functional support/admin 4915 (60.0) 2380 (29.1) 2266 (27.7)
 Elec/mech equip. repair 4685 (64.8) 1829 (25.3) 1765 (24.4)
 Craft workers 766 (62.8) 340 (27.9) 303 (24.9)
 Service and supply 2490 (60.9) 1194 (29.2) 1123 (27.5)
 Students, trainees/other 687 (59.7) 344 (29.9) 299 (26.0)
Body mass index
 Underweight 191 (57.7) 96 (29.0) 106 (32.0)
 Healthy weight 9298 (58.5) 4922 (31.0) 4616 (29.0)
 Overweight 12417 (62.0) 5531 (27.6) 5236 (26.2)
 Obese 3298 (61.4) 1502 (27.9) 1454 (27.1)
 Missing data 1778 (6.6) 666 (5.2) 584 (4.9)
Smoking status
 Nonsmoker 14286 (61.5) 6570 (28.3) 6099 (26.2)
 Past smoker 3465 (61.6) 1504 (26.7) 1540 (27.4)
 Current smoker 8071 (58.8) 4238 (30.9) 3983(29.0)
 Missing data 1160 (4.3) 405 (3.2) 374 (3.1)
Alcohol-related problems§
 No 24567 (61.7) 10490 (26.3) 10529 (26.4)
 Yes 2415 (54.1) 1472 (33.0) 1467 (32.9)
Health conditions||
 No 16784 (60.9) 6332 (23.0) 5810 (21.1)
 Yes 10198 (60.9) 6385 (38.1) 6186 (37.0)
Health symptoms||
 No 12345 (60.9) 3696 (18.2) 3517 (17.3)
 Yes 14637 (61.0) 9021 (37.6) 8479 (35.3)

Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD)

Mental Component Summary 51.7 (9.4) 50.3 (10.2) 49.7 (10.6)
Physical Component Summary 53.8 (7.2) 51.1 (8.8) 51.6 (8.7)

*Practitioner-assisted complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies include acupuncture, biofeedback, chiropractic care, energy healing, folk remedies, hypnosis, and massage.

*Self-administered CAM therapies include herbal therapy, high-dose megavitamin therapy, homeopathy, relaxation, and spiritual healing.

Practitioner-assisted and self-administered CAM therapy categories are not mutually exclusive.

p < 0.05.

§Alcohol-related problems were defined by endorsement of any of the following that occurred more than once during the past year: (a) you drank alcohol even after a doctor suggested stopping due to health problems; (b) you drank alcohol, were high from alcohol, or were hung over while you were working, going to school, or taking care of children or other responsibilities; (c) you missed or were late for work, school, or other activities because you were drinking or hung over; (d) you had a problem getting along with people while you were drinking; and (e) you drove a car after having several drinks or after drinking too much.

||No none reported, Yes one or more reported.

Mental and Physical Component Summary scores have been transformed using norm-based algorithms (mean = 50, standard deviation = 10).