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Table 1 Demographic and military characteristics of 2004-2006 active-duty Millennium Cohort participants by complementary and alternative medicine use (N = 44287)

From: Health care utilization among complementary and alternative medicine users in a large military cohort

 

No CAM use n= 26982

Practitioner-assisted CAM*use n= 12717

Self-administered CAM*†use n= 11996

Characteristic

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

Sex

 

‡

‡

   Male

20533 (65.3)

7786 (24.8)

7452 (23.7)

   Female

6449 (50.2)

4931 (38.4)

4544 (35.4)

Birth year

 

‡

‡

   Pre-1960

2587 (63.9)

970 (23.9)

1011 (25.0)

   1960-1969

7915 (64.2)

3114 (25.2)

2943 (23.9)

   1970-1979

7823 (60.5)

3790 (29.3)

3526 (27.3)

   1980 and later

8657 (57.8)

4843 (32.3)

4516 (30.2)

Race/ethnicity

   

   White, non-Hispanic

18065 (60.8)

8517 (28.7)

8100 (27.3)

   Black, Non-Hispanic

3735 (60.7)

1787 (29.1)

1668 (27.1)

   Other

5177 (61.5)

2412 (28.7)

2227 (26.5)

   Missing data

5 (0.0)

1 (0.0)

1 (0.0)

Education level

 

‡

‡

   High school diploma or less

17841 (60.4)

8685 (29.4)

8317 (28.2)

   Some college

3769 (61.6)

1633 (26.7)

1605 (26.2)

   Bachelor's degree

2871 (61.9)

1311 (28.3)

1155 (24.9)

   Graduate school

2498 (62.7)

1086 (27.3)

918 (23.1)

   Missing data

3 (0.0)

2 (0.0)

1 (0.0)

Marital status

 

‡

‡

   Never married

9693 (57.0)

5542 (32.6)

5215 (30.7)

   Married

16076 (64.1)

6451 (25.7)

6095 (24.3)

   Divorced

1213 (55.2)

724 (32.9)

686 (31.2)

Military pay grade

  

‡

   Officer

3957 (63.1)

1743 (27.8)

1386 (22.1)

   Enlisted

23025 (60.6)

10974 (28.9)

10610 (27.9)

Service branch

 

‡

‡

   Army

10368 (59.8)

5056 (29.2)

4910 (28.3)

   Navy and Coast Guard

5877 (59.1)

2987 (30.1)

2910 (29.3)

   Marine Corps

1733 (59.9)

918 (31.7)

745 (25.7)

   Air Force

9004 (63.7)

3756 (26.6)

3431 (24.3)

Military occupation

 

‡

‡

   Combat specialists

4955 (62.5)

2186 (27.6)

1992 (25.1)

   Electronic equip. repair

2802 (64.8)

1120 (25.9)

1057 (24.4)

   Comm/intelligence

2531 (58.8)

1346 (31.3)

1226 (28.5)

   Health care

2326 (52.0)

1573 (35.2)

1573 (35.2)

   Other technical/allied

824 (59.5)

405 (29.3)

392 (28.3)

   Functional support/admin

4915 (60.0)

2380 (29.1)

2266 (27.7)

   Elec/mech equip. repair

4685 (64.8)

1829 (25.3)

1765 (24.4)

   Craft workers

766 (62.8)

340 (27.9)

303 (24.9)

   Service and supply

2490 (60.9)

1194 (29.2)

1123 (27.5)

   Students, trainees/other

687 (59.7)

344 (29.9)

299 (26.0)

Body mass index

 

‡

‡

   Underweight

191 (57.7)

96 (29.0)

106 (32.0)

   Healthy weight

9298 (58.5)

4922 (31.0)

4616 (29.0)

   Overweight

12417 (62.0)

5531 (27.6)

5236 (26.2)

   Obese

3298 (61.4)

1502 (27.9)

1454 (27.1)

   Missing data

1778 (6.6)

666 (5.2)

584 (4.9)

Smoking status

 

‡

‡

   Nonsmoker

14286 (61.5)

6570 (28.3)

6099 (26.2)

   Past smoker

3465 (61.6)

1504 (26.7)

1540 (27.4)

   Current smoker

8071 (58.8)

4238 (30.9)

3983(29.0)

   Missing data

1160 (4.3)

405 (3.2)

374 (3.1)

Alcohol-related problems§

 

‡

‡

   No

24567 (61.7)

10490 (26.3)

10529 (26.4)

   Yes

2415 (54.1)

1472 (33.0)

1467 (32.9)

Health conditions||

 

‡

‡

   No

16784 (60.9)

6332 (23.0)

5810 (21.1)

   Yes

10198 (60.9)

6385 (38.1)

6186 (37.0)

Health symptoms||

 

‡

‡

   No

12345 (60.9)

3696 (18.2)

3517 (17.3)

   Yes

14637 (61.0)

9021 (37.6)

8479 (35.3)

 

Mean (SD)

Mean (SD)

Mean (SD)

Mental Component Summary ¶

51.7 (9.4)

50.3 (10.2)

49.7 (10.6)

Physical Component Summary ¶

53.8 (7.2)

51.1 (8.8)

51.6 (8.7)

  1. *Practitioner-assisted complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies include acupuncture, biofeedback, chiropractic care, energy healing, folk remedies, hypnosis, and massage.
  2. *†Self-administered CAM therapies include herbal therapy, high-dose megavitamin therapy, homeopathy, relaxation, and spiritual healing.
  3. †Practitioner-assisted and self-administered CAM therapy categories are not mutually exclusive.
  4. ‡ p < 0.05.
  5. §Alcohol-related problems were defined by endorsement of any of the following that occurred more than once during the past year: (a) you drank alcohol even after a doctor suggested stopping due to health problems; (b) you drank alcohol, were high from alcohol, or were hung over while you were working, going to school, or taking care of children or other responsibilities; (c) you missed or were late for work, school, or other activities because you were drinking or hung over; (d) you had a problem getting along with people while you were drinking; and (e) you drove a car after having several drinks or after drinking too much.
  6. ||No none reported, Yes one or more reported.
  7. ¶Mental and Physical Component Summary scores have been transformed using norm-based algorithms (mean = 50, standard deviation = 10).