Understanding CAM believers

Buried 21 pages into the Wellcome Monitor, which I have alluded to in other posts, is a breakdown of what CAM modalities people use.  It raises a lot of questions, but it is well worth a look to get an insight into the popularity unreality medicine:

It's not clear to me just how this survery was conducted.  I'm guessing that people were asked what CAM they used, without prompting from a list.

The popularity of herbal medicine is startling, and it raises the first question: how many people surveyed knew the difference between herbal therapy (something that could possibly work) and homeopathy (utter nonsense)?

There's also something conspicuous by its absence: chiropractic.  There are three chiropractors in my high street, so it is not an unpopular CAM modality.  These data possibly suggest that most people don't consider the spine wizards to be a CAM at all. 

The really scary data concern the types of people who adopt CAM, and they might shock the average skeptic.  People who use CAM are likely to be:

• Women (51% compared to 39% of men)
• 50-65 years old (55% compared with 35% in the 65+ bracket)
• Educated (48% compared with 39% having no higher education qualifications)

There are a lot of unanswered questions there. 

Finally, the survey dug a little deeper into the public perception of homeopathy.  In one section, people who did not use homeopathy were asked why this was the case:

• 33% Haven't had an illness where this sort of treatment needed
• 32% Nobody had ever advised it
• 17% No scientific proof of effectiveness
• 5% Conventional drugs more effective
• 3% Too expensive
• 25% Never heard of homeopathy

[NB: respondents could give more than one answer.]

These data suggest that for many people, homeopathy simply isn't on the radar. Less than 2 in 10 people are bothered by its questionable effectiveness; indeed more people have never heard of it at all.  No wonder homeopaths are so vocal.