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-Trøndelag
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% 10years 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.
Keywords
Homeopathy - Complementary therapies - Norway - Utilisation - Population
