People are turning to alternative forms of treatment for back pain, headaches, and other distressing health problems. In the study it was found that about 25 percent of the subjects have used complementary and alternative treatments during the past year. Massage, homeopathy, osteopathy, and herbal remedies have been found to be the most popular forms of alternative treatment.
The researchers noted that alternative and complementary medicine was used most often in a complementary manner, or along with with conventional medicine. There were observed to be significant differences in prevalence of treatments between countries, with about 40 percent of the subjects using complementary and alternative medicine in Germany whereas in Hungary this prevalence was about 10%. It appears this variation is partially explained by the fact that in some countries insurance covers these treatments.
This study has been published in the journal Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. In this study it has been found that CAM has been commonly used for health associated problems in Europe. Those who had a higher socioeconomic status were observed to be more likely than those with a lower socioeconomic status to come across an acceptable combination of standard medical and complementary therapies. This points to the possibility of socioeconomic inequality in the use of health services.
