The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #54207

Michael S. Goldstein, PhD¹, E. Richard Brown, PhD², Hal Morgenstern, PhD³, Roshan Bastani, PhD⁴, David Grant, PhD², Nicole Gatto, MPH¹, Rachel Ballard-Barbash, MD, MPH⁵, Gordon Willis, PhD⁶, and Anita Ambs, MPH⁵. (1) Department of Community Health Sciences, Universtiy of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095, 310-825-5116, msgoldst@ucla.edu, (2) UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 10911 Weyburn Avenue, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90024, (3) Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, (4) University of California - Los Angeles, 650 S. Charles Young Dr., P.O. Box 956900, A2- 125 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (5) Applied Research Programs, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20892, (6) Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20892

Our knowledge about the utilization of CAM by those with cancer is largely limited to data from patient-based studies. CHIS-CAM offers an opportunity to examine CAM utilization in a large, ethnically diverse sample representative of the California population. The 8,000 respondents were drawn from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey of 55,428 households. About one quarter (2,000) of the sample suffer from cancer, with oversampling of racial/ethnic minorities. The telephone survey was administered in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean. CHIS-CAM assessed the utilization of 32 types of CAM, along with the use of 31 dietary supplements and additional questions about dietary change. In each instance of utilization,information regarding the frequency of use, recency of use, perceived efficacy, and the communication of CAM use with one's physician was also collected. Extensive background information on the respondents from the initial survey allows the data to be analyzed in terms of a wide array of factors including socio-demographic variables, immigration/assimilation, insurance status/access to care, and health status/behavior. This paper describes the CHIS-CAM sample and presents the initial results of the study. We find that the overall use of CAM among those suffering from cancer is quite high, but varies by ethnicity, SES, and other factors. The use of particular forms of CAM is also distinct among different ethnic groups. Implications of these findings for public health policy is discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants in this session will be able to: recognize the limitations of existing studies of CAM use by people with cancer, understand how the methodology of this study offers an opprtunity to derive an accurate assessment of the utilization of CAM among those with cancer in California, describe the basic findings of the study with regard to the relative frequency that various types of CAM are used by Californians with cancer, and how this varies by ethnicity, assess the potential utility of such information for public health policy makers.

Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Cancer

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.