Description

For sample adults age 18+ in 2002 who had seen a practitioner for chiropractic care in the past 12 months (COMYR) and had used chiropractic care to treat a specific health problem or condition (COMTREAT), COMTBOWL indicates whether the person had used chiropractic care to treat bowel problems or constipation.

Related Variables

Bowel problems or constipation was one of 72 possible specific conditions that sample adults (but not sample children) could report treating with chiropractic care (2002) or with either chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation (2007). The other such conditions are:

• excessive use of alcohol or tobacco (COMTALCTOB, 2007 only)

• angina (COMTANGINA)

• anxiety or depression (COMTANXDEP, 2002 only)

• arthritis, lupus, or fibromyalgia (COMTARTHLF, 2002 only)

• back pain or problem (COMTBACPAIN)

• bipolar disorder (COMTBIPOL, 2007 only)

• birth defect (COMTBIRTHD)

• anemia and blood disorders--adults (COMTBLOOD, 2007 only)

• cataracts (COMTCATAR, 2002 only)

• chronic bronchitis (COMTCBRON)

• cholesterol (COMTCHOL)

• congestive heart failure (COMTCONGHF, 2002 only)

• coronary heart disease (COMTCORON)

• other nerve damage, including carpal tunnel syndrome (COMTCTS)

• benign tumors or cysts (COMTCYST)

• dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease (COMTDEMENT, 2007 only)

• dental pain (COMTDENPAIN)

• diabetic retinopathy (COMTDIABRET, 2002 only)

• emphysema (COMTEMPH)

• excessive sleepiness during the day (COMTESLEEPY)

• fibromyalgia (COMTFIBRO, 2007 only)

• fracture, bone or joint injury (COMTFRACT)

• glaucoma (COMTGLAUC, 2002 only)

• gout (COMTGOUT, 2007 only)

• gynecologic problem (COMTGYN)

• heart attack (COMTHATT)

• hernia (COMTHERN)

• hypertension (COMTHYPER)

• inflammatory bowel disease (COMTINFB, 2007 only)

• stomach or intestinal illness (COMTINTEST)

• irritable bowel (COMTIRRB, 2007 only)

• irregular heartbeat (COMTIRRH, 2002 only)

• jaw pain (COMTJAWPAIN)

• joint pain or stiffness/other joint condition (COMTJNTPAIN)

• weak or failing kidneys (COMTKIDNEY)

• poor circulation in legs (COMTLCIRC)

• liver problem (COMTLIVER)

• lupus (COMTLUPUS, 2007 only)

• macular degeneration (COMTMACD, 2002 only)

• allergy to medication (COMTMALL, 2002 only)

• mania or psychosis (COMTMANIA, 2007 only)

• memory loss or loss of other cognitive function (COMTMEMLOS, 2007 only)

• menopause (COMTMENOP)

• missing limbs (fingers, toes or digits), amputee (COMTMLIMB)

• multiple sclerosis (COMTMSCLER, 2002 only)

• neck pain or problem (COMTNECPAIN)

• neuropathy (COMTNEUROP, 2002 only)

• circulation problems (other than in the legs) (COMTNLCIRC)

• other allergies--adults (COMTOALLA, 2007 only)

• other heart condition or disease (COMTOHART)

• other infectious diseases (COMTOINF, 2007 only)

• other injury (COMTOINJ)

• knee problems (not arthritis, not joint injury) (COMTOKNEE)

• osteoporosis, tendinitis (COMTOSTEO)

• Parkinson's disease (COMTPARK, 2002 only)

• polio (myelitis), paralysis, para/quadriplegia (COMTPOLIO)

• prostate trouble or impotence (COMTPROST)

• recurring pain (COMTRECPAIN, 2002 only)

• Rheumatoid arthritis (COMTRHEUM, 2007 only)

• schizophrenia (COMTSCHIZ, 2007 only)

• senility (COMTSENILE)

• skin problems--adults (COMTSKINA)

• sprain or strain (COMTSPRAIN)

• stress (COMTSTRESS, 2007 only)

• stroke (COMTSTROKE)

• substance abuse, other than alcohol or tobacco (COMTSUBST, 2007 only)

• thyroid problem (COMTTHYR, 2002 only)

• ulcer (COMTULCER)

• varicose veins, hemorrhoids (COMTVEIN)

• other (COMTOTH2, COMTOTH3)

Additionally, there are 31 other conditions that both sample adults and sample children could report treating with chiropractic. For the full list of conditions, see COMTREAT.

Chiropractic is one of 16 modalities of alternative medicine that were included in the 2002 and 2007 Alternative Health Supplements. Respondents could report treating bowel problems or constipation by 14 of those methods. (The omitted alternative treatments are hypnosis and movement techniques, which were included as treatments for specific health problems in the 2007 survey only. See HYPYR and MOVALEXYR for more information.) Analysts interested in the treatment of bowel problems or constipation by other alternative therapies should see COMYR for the full list of alternative medicine treatments and a summary of other chiropractic-related questions, as well as definitions.

Comparability

This variable is only available for 2002, when respondents were asked about their use of "chiropractic care" to treat health conditions. Treatment of many other specific conditions was covered in the 2007 Alternative Health Supplement. However, in 2007 persons were asked to report the use of "chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation" to treat particular conditions, and the data do not distinguish between the two. Researchers should therefore exercise caution when conducting analyses that include chiropractic condition variables from both 2002 and 2007.

Universe

Availability

• 2002

Weights

• 2002 : SAMPWEIGHT