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Lohre, A., Rise, M. B., & Steinsbekk, A. (2012). Characteristics of visitors to practitioners of homeopathy in a large adult Norwegian population (the HUNT 3 study). Homeopathy, 101(3), 175–181.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: The aim was to investigate characteristics of female and male visitors to practitioners of homeopathy in a large adult population in Norway. METHODS: A cross-sectional adult total population health survey from Central Norway (the Nord-Trondelag Health Study--HUNT 3) conducted in 2008. Variables included demographics, lifestyle, health status and health care use. Multivariate logistic regression models were employed to analyse the data. RESULTS: In total 50,827 participated (54% of the total population). The prevalence of visits to practitioners of homeopathy was 1.3%, a decline from 4.3% 10 years earlier. Both female and male visitors were 4-5 times more likely to experience recent somatic complaints. Further, female visitors were characterised by higher education, non-smoking, more chronic complaints, and visiting a physician or a chiropractor the past year whereas male visitors were characterised by seeking help for psychiatric complaints and visiting a chiropractor. There were no associations of age, marital status, physical activity, perceived global health, respiratory, skin, or musculoskeletal diseases with visiting practitioners of homeopathy. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS: There has been a marked decline in visits to practitioners of homeopathy. The results indicate a change in reasons to consult from complaints that influences the visitors' global health to less chronic complaints. Further research should compare changes in visits complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners and the characteristics of visitors to practitioners of homeopathy to characteristics of other CAM visitors.
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Steinsbekk, A. (2010). Families' visits to practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine in a total population (the HUNT studies). Scand J Public Health, 38(5 Suppl), 96–104.
Abstract: AIMS: To investigate characteristics of families with adolescent children who have visited practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). METHODS: The Nord-Trondelag Health Studies (HUNT) invited all inhabitants aged 13 years and older to a population-based study. The data of parents and adolescents were merged through the Norwegian family register. A family CAM visitor was a family where either the adolescent or the mother or father had visited a CAM practitioner in the previous year. The data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 7,888 adolescents with mother and/or fathers were included. The prevalence of families visiting CAM practitioners was 19.8%. The odds of a family visiting a CAM practitioner was significantly associated (p < 0.01) with a father with poor self-reported global health (adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 3.0, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.7-5.3), who exercised (adjOR 1.3, 1.1-1.5) or smoked daily (adjOR 0.7, 0.6-0.8). Family CAM visits were also associated with the mother having a recent health complaint (adjOR 1.4, 1.1-1.7) or having fair global health (adjOR 1.6, 1.2-2.0), or with the adolescent, mother or father having visited a general practitioner during the past year (adolescent adjOR 1.3, 1.2-1.5; mother 1.7, 1.5-2.0; father 1.4, 1.2-1.6). For family visits to a homeopath, the strongest association was the mother having visited a general practitioner (adjOR 1.9, 1.4-2.5). For visits to chiropractors the strongest association was whether the father was currently working (adjOR 2.1, 1.2-3.8). CONCLUSIONS: The factor most strongly associated with families' visits to CAM practitioners was a father who had poor self-reported health.
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Steinsbekk, A., Nilsen, T. V. L., & Rise, M. B. (2008). Characteristics of visitors to homeopaths in a total adult population study in Norway (HUNT 2). Homeopathy, 97(4), 178–184.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To study the characteristics of people visiting homeopaths in a total adult population in Norway. METHODS: Data from a total population cross sectional health survey conducted in 1995-1997 in Central Norway (HUNT 2) with 65,495 participants. Variables included in the analysis were age, marital status, education, being a social welfare recipient, lifestyle (daily smoker), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-T), global health perception, self-reported health complaints and a variety of diseases. Significance level p<0.01. RESULTS: 40,027 persons over 20 years answered the question on visits to a homeopath. 4.3% had consulted a homeopath during the last 12 months. The likelihood of a person consulting a homeopath was most strongly associated with being female (adjusted odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval 2.1-2.6) and having a lower perceived global health (increasing from 1.5, 1.2-1.8 for good global health to 2.9, 1.9-4.3 for poor global health). There was a weaker but significant association between increased likelihood of visiting a homeopath and being 30-39 years (1.3, 1.1-1.4), having a HADS-T score between 10-14 (1.3, 1.1-1.6) and 15-19 (1.6, 1.3-2.0), having a health complaint the last year (1.5, 1.2-1.7), hay fever (1.7, 1.5-2.0), consulted for a psychiatric complaint (1.5, 1.3-1.8) and another chronic disease than the ones asked about in this study (1.3, 1.1-1.6). Being a smoker was significantly associated with decreased likelihood of consulting a homeopath (0.7, 0.6-0.7). There was also a trend for increased likelihood of visits to homeopaths (p<0.1) for those 60 years and over, social welfare recipients, having a chronic complaint and HADS-T score of 20 or higher, and decreased likelihood for widow(er)s. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS: Being female and having a lower perceived global health were the variables most strongly associated with visits to a homeopath. More studies on visits to homeopaths from other populations (countries, children and adolescent) are needed.
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