Race and Alternative and Complementary Medicine Use by Elderly Patients

Abstract

T he rapid increase in the use of alternative and complementary medicine (ACM) in recent decades has been observed among elderly patients and those of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Although ACM utilization has been described as being most prevalent in middle-age whites and those with relatively more education and higher incomes, ACM is, in fact, used by people of all ages and ethnicities. Studies have differed on whether use of ACM varies among members of different races or ethnic groups. A number of investigations on ACM use, 1–4 including the largest study done specifically on elderly subjects,5 did not find variation in the overall use of ACM, but other researchers found that whites were more likely to utilize ACM than other minorities were.6,7 Boutin et al. noted that, when diet and nutritional therapies were excluded, the use of herbal medicine and manual healing differed by race.8 There have also been many reports of ethnic groups that have strong histories of using folk medicine. The presence of such traditions may alter the prevalence of use of specific therapies or use of ACM in general among specific groups. A survey was conducted on ACM use by a population of elderly outpatients of a large urban teaching hospital that included significant numbers of minorities.9,10 As part of this investigation, variation in utilization of ACM by race and ethnicity was explored.