ABSTRACT
Complementary Therapies in Neurology: An Evidence-Based Approach Edited by Barry S.Oken ISBN 1-84214-200-3 Copyright © 2004 by The Parthenon Publishing Group, London
INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, the awareness of the medical community has been raised regarding the extensive and growing utilization of what has come to be called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)1. Eisenberg and colleagues2 demonstrated an increase in the use of CAM therapies from 33.8% of the adult US population in 1990 to as much as 42.1% in 1997. Among those using CAM therapies, the probability of visiting an alternative medicine practitioner (as opposed to using a CAM therapy without a practitioner) increased from 36.3% to 46.3% during that same period. Over these 7 years, the total number of visits to alternative medical practitioners was estimated to have increased by 47.3%, with expenditure for alterative medicine services increasing by 45.2% to at least $27 billion in 1997. This figure is comparable with the total projected out-of-pocket expenditure for all US physician services.
