Etat des lieux de l'homéopathie en Belgique - KCE

22 Homeopathy KCE Reports 154
3.1.2.7 Limitations
The fact that the survey in the general population was carried out by phone carries a
risk of socio-economical or cultural bias because participants need to appear on a list of
public numbers. More, only volunteers are participating. Nevertheless, the final sample
is rather representative of the Belgian population and weightings were done to correct
inadequacies.
3.1.3 The use of alternative medicines in general
In 2009, 33.7% of the interviewees had resorted to an alternative medicine during their
lifetime (table 1). Of the 1622 respondents that mentioned at least one medical problem
during the twelve months prior to the survey, 14.9% had visited an alternative therapist
during this period (table 2). This prevalence appears to be consistent with the results
obtained during interview-based health surveys carried out by the Public Health
Institute since 1997. The latest report available on the interview-based health survey
conducted in 2008 79 indicates that there has been no increase over time in the use of
providers of non-conventional therapies, except in Wallonia for osteopathy.
Just like the interview-based health survey, the survey indicates that during the 12
months prior to the survey the sub-groups of the population with the highest level of
the education have consulted an alternative therapist to a higher extent (18.6%) than
those with a lower level of education (10.6%) (table 3). Also, these therapies are most
often used by middle-aged people (from 14.9% to 18.5% of people aged between 25 and
54 years) (table 4).
No significant difference was observed by gender: 14.3% of men and 15.5% of women
have consulted and alternative therapist during the 12 months prior to the survey (table
5).
33.8% of the respondents stated that they did not know about alternative medicines;
25.7% said that they did not trust these medicines and 18.4% said that they did not need
them. They were considered to be too expensive by 12.2% (table 6).
Osteopaths and homeopaths have been consulted twice as much as the other
alternative therapists (table 7): 6.7% of respondents had visited an osteopath during the
12 months prior to the survey, 5.6% had consulted a homeopath, 2.7% an acupuncturist
and 2.2% a chiropractor. Two-thirds of these patients had consulted them more than
once during the past 12 months (table 7).
3.1.3.1 Medical reasons for using alternative medicines
The four medical reasons most often stated by consumers of alternative medicines
during the past 12 months are: back problems (46.7%), neck pain (25.8%), fatigue
(12.9%) and headaches (12.9%) (table 8).
Among those who gave only one medical reason for consulting an alternative therapist
(166 out of 246 respondents), back problems were the main reason for consultation.
This alone represented 70.7% of consultations of chiropractors, 45.8% of visits to
acupuncturists, 47.4% for osteopaths and 31.4% for homeopaths (table 9).
3.1.3.2 The therapist-patient relationship
A large majority of the users of alternative medicines (87.4%) also consulted
conventional doctors (table 10), most frequently for the same medical reason (table 11).
85.2% of all users of alternative medicines have total confidence in their therapist,
whether it is a conventional or non-conventional doctor. Only 4.6% did not trust their
conventional doctor but they did trust their non-conventional therapist (table 12).
91.1% of users stated that they understood the responses of the therapist to their
questions, whether an allopath or alternative therapist. Problems of comprehension
were not associated more with one or other medicine (conventional or alternative)
(table 13).