Characteristics of Primary Care Physicians and Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners
| Characteristic | Primary Care Physicians (n = 333) | CAM Practitioners (n = 241) |
|---|---|---|
| Sex* (n [%]) | ||
| Male | 187 (58) | 95 (41) |
| Female | 134 (42) | 137 (59) |
| Age (mean ± SD [median]) | 47.7 ± 7.2 (48) | 40.2 ± 9.4 (38) |
| Medical specialty† (n [%]) | ||
| Specialists | 265 (80)‡ | |
| Family medicine | 105 (32) | |
| Internal medicine | 47 (14) | |
| Pediatrics | 9 (3) | |
| CAM modality (n [%])† | ||
| Movement/manual healing | 124 (51)§ | |
| Traditional Chinese medicine | 88 (37) | |
| Naturopathy | 29 (12) | |
| Homeopathy | 10 (4) | |
| Herbal medicine | 9 (4) | |
| Chiropractic | 8 (3) | |
| Healing | 4 (2) | |
| Meditation | 3 (1) |
Data analysis were performed by t test. CAM, complementary and alternative medicine; SD, standard deviation.
* Three hundred twenty-one of 333 primary care physicians and 232 of 241 CAM practitioners reported this data.
† Respondents reporting any kind of medical or CAM specialty, which include one or more of the fields specified here.
‡ Eighty-eight physicians (27.3%) reported having studied CAM, with experience ranging from basic introductory courses to full programs. Twenty-four physicians (7.7%) reported practicing CAM. Fifty-two percent reported having used CAM treatments over the past year.
§ Thirty-one (13%) of the CAM practitioners were physicians.