The extent of insurance coverage for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may determine how often people use these practices, according to new research by the Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Based on the evidence that American patients made an estimated 629 million visits to CAM practitioners in 1997, researchers conducted a random telephone survey of more than 2,000 US households to find out what led people to opt for alternative medicine. The results are published in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Research found that an estimated 44 per cent of households surveyed used at least one CAM therapy in 1997, with 52 per cent of those seeing at least one CAM practitioner that year.

Patients who visited conventional doctors the most that same year were likely to visit a CAM practitioner as well. Those most likely to visit a CAM practitioner were female patients and those with diabetes, cancer or back and neck problems.

However, those with full or partial insurance coverage for CAM therapies were most likely to make frequent visits to CAM practitioners (more than seven visits per year).

Frequent CAM users were also more likely to use the therapy for overall wellness or for back and neck problems.

Researchers concluded that a small minority of patients accounted for the majority of visits made to CAM practitioners, and the extent of insurance coverage indicated who the frequent CAM users were.