The urban-rural divide in complementary and alternative medicine use: A longitudinal study of 10,638 women

Adams, J; Sibbritt, D; Lui, CW

The urban-rural divide in complementary and alternative medicine use: A longitudinal study of 10,638 women

Adams, J

Sibbritt, D

Lui, CW

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, 11
Issue Date:: 2011-01-06

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Adams, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9901-5717	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Sibbritt, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3561-9447	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lui, CW	en_US
dc.date.available	2011-01-06	en_US
dc.date.issued	2011-01-06	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, 11	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/16928
dc.description.abstract	Background: Research has identified women in rural and remote areas as higher users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners than their urban counterparts. However, we currently know little about what influences women's CAM consumption across the urban/rural divide. This paper analyses 10,638 women's CAM use across urban and rural Australia.Methods: Data for this research comes from Survey 5 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health conducted in 2007. The participants were aged 56-61years. The health status and health service use of CAM users and non-users were compared using chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.Results: Women who consulted a CAM practitioner varied significantly by place of residence: 28%, 32% and 30% for urban, rural and remote areas respectively (P < .005). CAM users tended to be more dissatisfied with conventional care than CAM non-users, but this was consistent across the 3 areas of residence. CAM users have higher percentages of most symptoms but the only rural/urban differences were for severe tiredness, night sweats, depression and anxiety. For diagnosed diseases, CAM users have higher percentages of most diagnoses but only hypertension and skin cancer were statistically significantly higher for rural and remote but not urban women (P < .005).Conclusions: In contrast to some recent claims, our analysis suggests the lack of access to and/or patient dissatisfaction with conventional health practitioners may not play a central role in explaining higher use of CAM by women in rural and remote areas when compared to women in urban areas. © 2011 Adams et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1186/1472-6882-11-2	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Complementary & Alternative Medicine	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Humans	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Complementary Therapies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Health Surveys	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Health Care Surveys	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Questionnaires	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Longitudinal Studies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Motivation	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Middle Aged	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Rural Health	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Urban Health	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Rural Population	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Urban Population	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Patient Satisfaction	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Australia	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Female	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Surveys and Questionnaires	en_US
dc.title	The urban-rural divide in complementary and alternative medicine use: A longitudinal study of 10,638 women	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	11	en_US
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services	en_US
utslib.for	1104 Complementary and Alternative Medicine	en_US
dc.location.activity	ISI:000286421800001	en_US
dc.location.activity	Como, Italy
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Public Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CHSP - Health Services and Practice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	11	en_US

Abstract:

Background: Research has identified women in rural and remote areas as higher users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners than their urban counterparts. However, we currently know little about what influences women's CAM consumption across the urban/rural divide. This paper analyses 10,638 women's CAM use across urban and rural Australia.Methods: Data for this research comes from Survey 5 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health conducted in 2007. The participants were aged 56-61years. The health status and health service use of CAM users and non-users were compared using chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.Results: Women who consulted a CAM practitioner varied significantly by place of residence: 28%, 32% and 30% for urban, rural and remote areas respectively (P < .005). CAM users tended to be more dissatisfied with conventional care than CAM non-users, but this was consistent across the 3 areas of residence. CAM users have higher percentages of most symptoms but the only rural/urban differences were for severe tiredness, night sweats, depression and anxiety. For diagnosed diseases, CAM users have higher percentages of most diagnoses but only hypertension and skin cancer were statistically significantly higher for rural and remote but not urban women (P < .005).Conclusions: In contrast to some recent claims, our analysis suggests the lack of access to and/or patient dissatisfaction with conventional health practitioners may not play a central role in explaining higher use of CAM by women in rural and remote areas when compared to women in urban areas. © 2011 Adams et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/16928