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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on November 18, 2008
Age and Ageing 2009 38(1):93-99; doi:10.1093/ageing/afn241
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

A longitudinal analysis of older Australian women's consultations with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, 1996–2005

Jon Adams1, David Sibbritt2 and Anne F. Young3

1 School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
2 CCEB, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
3 Research Centre for Gender and Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia

Address correspondence to: J. Adams. Tel: (+61) 7 336 55116; Fax: (+61) 7 336 55540. Email: j.adams{at}sph.uq.edu.au

Objective: to determine the factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among older Australian women over time.

Methods: a longitudinal analysis of postal questionnaires completed in 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005 as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

Results: the percentage of women who consulted a CAM practitioner in the years 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005 were 14.6%, 12.1%, 10.9% and 9.9%, respectively. Use of CAM increased as the number of reported symptoms increased and physical health deteriorated, for non-urban residents compared to urban residents.

Conclusion: use of CAM amongst older women appears to be strongly influenced by poor physical health. There is also a suggestion that lack of access to conventional health care providers increases CAM use. There is also an overall decline in the use of CAM among older women as they age.

Keywords: complementary and alternative medicine, complementary therapies, longitudinal studies, older women, elderly

Received 5 March 2008; accepted in revised form 24 July 2008.


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