One in Four Older Adults With Diabetes Uses Alternative Meds

A research letter published in Diabetes Care says more than 25 percent of older U.S. adults with diabetes use some type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), reports HealthDay News . The researchers used data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey for 1,475 adults aged 65 or older who reported having diabetes. They estimated that more than 2 million older adults with diabetes used some form of CAM in the past year in 2012. Average age among older CAM users with diabetes was 72.4 years, and 54.3 percent were women. Biologically-based therapies and manipulative body therapies were the most commonly used types of CAM, while the most commonly used individual therapies were herbal therapies, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and yoga. Significant prevalence differences existed for herbal therapies, chiropractic, and meditation by reason of use. "Older adults should be educated to proactively discuss their CAM use with their healthcare providers, so that ... care can be provided to meet the needs of older adults with diabetes," the researchers recommend.