Abstract
BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and patterns of CAM use in Korean children via a telephone based survey. We also investigated parent satisfaction, a proxy for their child, with CAM therapy and determined the factors affecting satisfaction with CAM use.MethodsThis study used a landline telephone-based survey to examine a random sample representative of Korean children, aged 0 to 18 years. We assigned and surveyed 2,000 subjects according to age group, gender, and geographical distributions by proportionate quota and systematic sampling of children throughout Korea in 2010. A household of 1,184 with a 18.6% response rate was projected to yield 2,077 completed data. We performed statistical analyses using sampling weight.ResultsThe prevalence of CAM use was 65.3% for the Korean children in our sample population. The most commonly used CAM category was natural products (89.3%). More than half of CAM user’s parents reported satisfaction with their therapies (52.7%), but only 29.1% among them had consulted a Western trained doctor regarding the CAM therapies used. Doctor visits were associated with lower satisfaction with CAM use but not with consultation rate with a doctor.ConclusionsOur study suggests that CAM is widely used among children in Korea. Medical doctors should actively discuss the use of CAM therapies with their patients and provide information on the safety and efficacy of diverse CAM modalities to guide the choices of CAM users.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and patterns of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in Korean children via a telephone based survey
We found significant differences between CAM users and non-CAM users in the following parameters: region of residence, perceived health status of the child, self-reported illness, number of doctor visits, surveyed caregiver’s relationship to the child, caregiver age and educational level, monthly family income, and CAM use by adult family members
Doctor visits were associated with lower satisfaction with CAM use (OR: 0.695, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 0.525–0.921) (Table 3)
Summary
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and patterns of CAM use in Korean children via a telephone based survey. The evidence base for CAM remains relatively weak, recent years have seen increased scientific rigor for the study of CAM modalities. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, the use of CAM is increasing worldwide [2,3,4]. It has been reported that 27– 74.8% of adults use CAM [5,6,7], and there is an increasing tendency toward its use in children worldwide [6,7,8]. In the United States (US), the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) reported that 11.8% of children surveyed had used CAM therapy in the previous 12 months [6]. The only national surveys of CAM use have been conducted in the US
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