Complementary and alternative medicine use among US Navy and Marine Corps personnel

Smith, Tyler C; Ryan, Margaret AK; Smith, Besa; Reed, Robert J; Riddle, James R; Gumbs, Gia R; Gray, Gregory C

doi:10.1186/1472-6882-7-16

BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

Table 2 Characteristics and Unadjusted Associations of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use

From: Complementary and alternative medicine use among US Navy and Marine Corps personnel

Variable	Study Population n = 1,305		CAM Use n = 485 (37.2%)		p value^†
	Number	%	Number	%*
Gender					<0.01
Male	1,009	77.3	338	33.5
Female	296	22.7	147	49.7
Age (years)					0.99
18–24	300	23.0	114	38.0
25–31	359	27.5	133	37.1
32–38	345	26.4	126	36.5
39–57	301	23.1	112	37.2
Marital status					0.04
Unmarried	531	40.7	215	40.5
Married	774	59.3	270	34.9
Rank					<0.01
Enlisted	1,009	77.3	356	35.3
Officer	296	22.7	129	43.6
Service branch					<0.01
Navy	949	72.7	361	38.0
Navy, Reserve/Guard	72	5.5	37	30.6
Marines	284	21.8	87	51.4
Occupational category					0.06
Combat specialists	285	21.8	107	37.5
Mechanical repair	216	16.6	72	35.3
Administrative	220	16.9	79	45.6
Electrical repair	184	14.1	65	38.3
Communications and intelligence	90	6.9	41	65.2
Health care	128	9.8	49	35.9
Supply	78	6.0	22	33.3
Craft workers	33	2.5	13	39.4
Technical	23	1.8	15	28.2
Students/trainees	48	3.7	22	45.8
Education level					0.02
Some high school or diploma	339	26.0	105	31.0
Some college	611	46.8	235	38.5
College degree or higher	355	27.2	145	40.9
Race/ethnicity					<0.01
White	871	66.7	355	40.8
Black	183	14.0	55	24.4
Hispanic	119	9.1	29	30.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	84	6.4	28	33.3
Other	48	3.7	18	37.5
Salary					0.49
<$19,999	245	18.8	90	36.7
$20,000–$34,999	365	28.0	129	35.3
$35,000–$49,999	275	21.1	96	34.9
$50,000–$74,999	249	19.1	98	39.4
≥$75,000	171	13.1	72	42.1
General health					0.19
Very good or excellent	911	69.8	327	46.6
Good	336	25.8	131	39.0
Poor or fair	58	4.4	27	35.9
Number of days spent in bed due to illness or injury in past year (sick days)					<0.01
None	622	47.7	203	32.6
1–2	435	33.3	165	37.9
3–7	181	13.9	81	44.8
≥8	67	5.1	36	53.7
Body pain in past 4 weeks					<0.01
None/very mild	763	58.5	256	33.6
Mild	306	23.5	111	36.3
Moderate/severe	236	18.1	118	50.0
Level of satisfaction with physician					<0.01
Very	607	46.5	198	44.2
Somewhat	510	39.1	204	40.0
Not very or not at all	188	14.4	83	32.6
Level of trust in physician					0.12
Completely or a lot	680	52.1	261	38.4
Some	395	30.3	131	33.2
Little or not at all	230	17.6	93	40.4
Addiction to alcohol or drugs in the last year					0.16
No	1,286	98.5	475	36.9
Yes	19	1.5	10	52.6
Obesity in the last year					0.29
No	1,243	95.2	458	36.9
Yes	62	4.8	27	43.6

* Indicates the prevalence of CAM use among that subgroup of the population.
^† p value based on an unadjusted chi-square test of association.

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