Use of complementary and alternative medicines and mental disorders in community-living Asian older adults.

The use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and its link with mental health is poorly understood. It is not clear whether mentally ill persons use CAM because conventional medical care does not meet their needs. In a nationally representative random sample of 1092 individuals aged 60 in Singapore, we determined CAM use and the prevalence of mental disorders using Geriatric Mental State (GMS) and found that overall CAM use, predominantly Chinese herbal medicines, was reported by an estimated 42.7% of the population. Depression (odds ratio=OR=1.94; 95% CI=1.26-2.98) and poor self-rated mental health (OR=2.44; 95% CI=1.25-4.80) were associated with CAM use, independently of other risks factors and correlates of CAM use. Although depressed Asians more frequently used CAM than conventional health care, we could find no evidence in this study to indicate that among individuals with depression, CAM users compared to nonusers, were less likely to seek treatment from general and mental health professionals or were more likely to have negative beliefs and attitudes about mental illnesses and its treatment. This is consistent with the common observation that the use of CAM complements rather than replaces conventional treatments.