Self-medication with over-the-counter drugs and complementary medications in South Australia's elderly population

Table 4 Most commonly used CAM

	1992-1993		1994-1995		2000-2001		2003-2004
	Wave 1	N = 180	Wave 3	N = 241	Wave 6	N = 71	Wave 7	N = 118
CAM	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Vitamins and minerals
Multivitamins	40	22.2	57	23.7	22	31	33	28
Vitamin C	32	17.8	47	19.5	8	11.3	23	20.3
Vitamin B	19	10.6	31	12.9	8	11.3	5	4.2
Vitamin E	18	10	43	17.8	16	22.5	9	7.6
Herbal medications
Garlic	24	13.3	22	9.1	3	4.2	2	1.7
Celery	13	7.2	18	7.5	3	4.2	1	0.8
Gingko biloba	2	1.1	5	2.1	10	14.1	9	7.6
Nutritional supplements
Cod liver oil	22	12.2	37	15.4	9	12.7	11	9.3
Fish oil	6	3.3	5	2.1	3	4.2	8	6.8
Glucosamine	0	0	0	0	4	5.6	10	8.5

The percentages are calculated over the number of participants that reported use of at least one CAM indicated as N

ISSN: 2662-7671