This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (8)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Complementary and Alternative Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Allen Bellas, PhD; William E. Lafferty, MD; Bonnie Lind, MS; Patrick T. Tyree, AA

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159:367-372.

Background  This study describes the frequency, predictors, and expenditures for the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in an insured pediatric population.

Methods  Washington state requires CAM-licensed medical professional coverage in private health insurance. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of services provided to children in 2002 by conventional professionals, chiropractors, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, and massage therapists. Both ² tests and logistic regression analysis were used to identify statistically significant differences in use and explanatory factors.

Results  Of 187 323 children covered by 2 large insurance companies, 156 689 (83.6%) had any claims during the year. For those with claims, 6.2% of children used an alternative professional during the year, accounting for 1.3% of total expenditures and 3.6% of expenditures for all outpatient professionals. We found that CAM use was significantly less likely for males (odds ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.87-0.95) and more likely for children with cancer, children with low back pain, and children with adult family members who use CAM. Visits to chiropractors or massage therapists nearly always yielded diagnoses of musculoskeletal conditions. In contrast, diagnoses from naturopathic physicians and acupuncturists more closely resembled those of conventional professionals.

Conclusions  Insured pediatric patients used CAM professional services, but this use was a small part of total insurance expenditures. We found that CAM use was more common among some children, depending on their sex, age, medical conditions, and whether they had an adult family member who used CAM. Although use of chiropractic and massage was almost always for musculoskeletal complaints, acupuncture and naturopathic medicine filled a broader role.

Author Affiliations: College of Management, Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis, Minn (Dr Bellas); and Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle (Drs Lafferty, Ms Lind, and Mr Tyree).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

A Review of CAM for Procedural Pain in Infancy: Part II. Other Interventions
Tsao et al.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2008;5:399-407.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Pediatric Acupuncture: A Review of Clinical Research
Gold et al.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2008;0:nem181v1-nem181.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in a General Pediatric Clinic
Jean and Cyr
Pediatrics 2007;120:e138-e141.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Frequency and Characteristics of Pediatric and Adolescent Visits in Naturopathic Medical Practice
Weber et al.
Pediatrics 2007;120:e142-e146.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Challenges of Using Medical Insurance Claims Data for Utilization Analysis
Tyree et al.
American Journal of Medical Quality 2006;21:269-275.
ABSTRACT