The use of complementary and alternative medicine in Australia

Despite apparent high usage of complementary and alterative medicine (CAM) and increased CAM research in Australia, a national profile on CAM use was not available. In an effort to address this gap, an Australia-wide representative population survey on use of 17 forms of CAM was conducted between May and June 2005. This paper aims to provide an overview of the existing data on CAM use in Australia, present our approaches to improve methodological quality of such studies and draw implications from findings and their relevance to health policy, education and management.