Table 4.

Average annual per capita spine–specific health costs among CAM and non-CAM respondents with spine problems, MEPS 2002–2008.

		Total expenditures [1]	Inpatient	Outpatient	Prescription	Emergency
unadjusted	Non-CAM user	$1913	$716	$1098	$6	$93
	CAM user	$1228	$160	$1037	$1	$30
	Treatment effect for CAM use (CAM user – non-CAM user)	$-685 (p<0.001)	-556 (p=0.001)	$-62 (p=0.255)	$-5 (p<0.001)	$-63 (p<0.001)
Age, sex, race & Insurance, primary diagnosis, & comorbidity adjusted	Non-CAM user	$1,832	$671	$1,065	$6	$90
	CAM user	$1,345	$225	$1,083	$1	$35
	Treatment effect for CAM use (CAM user – non-CAM user)	$-487 (p<0.001)	-446 (p=0.001)	$18 (p=0.741)	$-4 (p=0.001)	$-55 (p<0.001)
+ region & income, education, employment adjusted	Non-CAM user	$1,840	$680	$1,066	$6	$89
	CAM user	$1,343	$215	$1,090	$1	$37
	Treatment effect for CAM use (CAM user – non-CAM user)	$-497 (p<0.001)	$-465 (p<0.001)	$24 (p=0.662)	$-5 (p=0.001)	$-52 (p<0.001)
+ self-reported health status measures	Non-CAM user	$1,811	$672	$1,045	$6	$88
	CAM user	$1,387	$227	$1,121	$2	$38
	Treatment effect for CAM use (CAM user – non-CAM user)	$-424 (p<0.001)	$-446 (p<0.001)	$76 (p=0.152)	$-4 (p=0.001)	$-50 (p<0.001)
Propensity score matched [2]	Treatment effect for CAM use (CAM user – non-CAM user)	$-526 (p<0.001)	$-422 (p<0.001)	$-17 (p=0.808)	$-2 (p=0.021)	$-85 (p=0.003)

^[1]Individual service categories do not sum to the total expenditure column due to averaging.

^[2]Propensity score matches were drawn from 11,976 cases within the “region of common support” (see text). A total of 4,289 CAM users were matched on propensity score to 2,812 non-CAM users using the nearest neighbor technique.