Concurrent utilization of chiropractic, prescription medicines, nonprescription medicines and alternative health care

Abstract

This study examines the use of chiropractic, prescription medicines, nonprescription medicines and alternative health care for two independent samples representative of the population of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1979 ( n = 439) and again in 1988 ( n = 464). While the usage of prescription medicines was unchanged from 1979 to 1988, utilization of nonprescription medicines, chiropractic and alternative health care increased. Users of chiropractic tended to be concurrent users of the conventional health care system, although they were also more likely to utilize alternative health care. This study shows that Edmontonians tend to select their health care concurrently from various health care modalities including both prescription and nonprescription medicines and conventional and alternative health care.