Table 1

A comparison of CAM therapy users and non user (The sample consists of 908 subjects taking chronic opioids)

CAM user past 12 months
 No CAM
 Total

n = 404
 n = 504
 n = 908
Age-Mean
 46.6**
 50.0**
 48.5
Gender, Female
 78.6**
 61.8**
 69.3
Race-White or Caucasian (see footnote 1)
 80.9
 71.2
 75.5
     Black or African American
 18.4
 26.8
 23.1
     Native American
 0.5
 1.0
 0.8
     Hispanic
 0.3
 1.0
 0.7
Education, Mean years (see footnote 2)
 13.6**
 12.7**
 13.1
Education, 12 years or less, %
 46.0
 62.1
 54.9
     >12 and <16 years, %
 29.2
 23.4
 26.0
     16 or more years, %
 24.8
 14.5
 19.1
Employment-Fulltime or part time
 49.6*
 35.7*
 42.0
     Student
 1.0
 1.0
 1.0
     Disability
 32.3**
 45.6**
 39.7
     Unemployed, looking for work
 11.9
 10.3
 11.0
Marital Status-Married
 44.2
 41.9
 42.9
     Widowed
 3.5
 7.1
 5.5
     Separated or Divorced
 32.0
 31.4
 31.6
     Never Married
 20.4
 19.6
 20.0
Opioids Utilization-Daily
 86.6
 89.3
 88.1
     10–29 days per month
 13.4
 10.7
 11.9
     Mean dose of Opioid's per day (footnote 3)
 94.1 mg
 90.4 mg
 92 mg
Opioid addiction (DSM-IV 30 day criteria)
 3.6%
 3.2%
 3.4%
Positive Toxicology test for illicit drugs
 21.4%
 24.1%
 22.1%
Pain severity average daily pain (1–10 scale)
 4.83
 4.77
 4.8
Monthly Employment Income, Mean
 $845**
 $550**
 $681
Total Monthly Income, Mean
 $1636**
 $1322**
 $1461
RAND SF-36 Physical Composite Score
 33.5
 32.7
 33.1
RAND SF-36 Mental Composite Score
 46.5*
 49.7*
 48.3
Primary Pain Site,


     Lower back
 34.9*
 41.3*
 38.4
     Headache
 12.9**
 7.5**
 9.9
     Multiple sites
 10.6**
 5.9**
 8.0
     Knee
 5.9
 6.9
 6.5
     Neck/upper back
 9.2**
 5.0**
 6.8
     Leg
 5.0
 6.9
 6.1
     Foot and ankle
 3.5*
 7.1*
 5.5
     Shoulder
 4.7
 4.6
 4.6
     Hip
 4.7
 4.4
 4.5
     Abdominal
 3.5
 5.2
 4.4

*p < .05, **p < .01

1. Using Chi square analysis Caucasians were more likely to use CAM therapy than African Americans. p < 0.01.

2. Using Chi square analysis subjects who utilized CAM therapy were more likely to have attended college than non CAM users. p < 0.01.

3. Opioids utilized by the chronic pain patients in the sampe (i.e. oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl, meperidine, codeine) were converted to morphine equivalent doses using standard equivalency tables.

Fleming et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2007 7:15   doi:10.1186/1472-6882-7-15