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Matthew P. Davis, MD; Paul M. Darden, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:393-396.

Background  Current estimates of pediatric complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use range from 10% to 15%. These estimates are derived from children sampled at health care facilities, with chronic conditions, and/or from countries other than the United States.

Objective  To provide a population-based estimate of the prevalence of pediatric CAM use in the United States.

Design  We used the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally representative survey of the noninstitutionalized US population. The survey asks parents if their children used alternative care practitioners within the previous year. Our analysis included children younger than 18 years and accounted for the complex sampling design of MEPS.

Results  Weighted for the US population, pediatric CAM use was 1.8% (95% confidence interval, 1.3%-2.3%). Participants who used CAM were found in each age category, and the mean age was 10.3 years; 76.8% were white, 54% were female, 32% lived in the West, 66% lived in a metropolitan statistical area, and 36% lived at 100% to 199% of the poverty level. Bivariate ² analysis shows that CAM use increased with age (P = .006) and was twice as common in children not living in a metropolitan statistical area (P = .02).

Conclusions  The use of CAM among US children, as measured by the MEPS, is far less prevalent than has previously been asserted. With such disparate estimates, future CAM research efforts would benefit from a consensus regarding what practices constitute CAM and how these practices should be measured.

From the Departments of Pediatrics and Biometry and Epidemiology, the Academic Generalist Fellowship Program, and the Center for Health Care Research, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

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