Musicians are High Consumers of Complementary and Alternative Healthcare Services: The Norwegian Musicians’ Health Project

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the use of analgesic medication and manual and alternative healthcare services among Norwegian musicians compared to the general workforce. METHODS: 1,607 musicians from the Norwegian Musicians’ Union answered an online questionnaire about demographic characteristics, use of healthcare services, and use of medication. They were compared to a sample of the Norwegian workforce (n=2,610) from the Norwegian survey of level of living. Based on logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, sex and education, we compared the self-reported use of different forms of healthcare services and medication in musicians to the general workforce. RESULTS: Musicians reported a 2-fold increased use of manual (OR 1.87, CI 1.40-2.33) and complementary and alternative healthcare services (OR 2.58, CI 2.07-3.21) compared to the general workforce. Higher proportions of use of analgesic medication (OR 1.52, CI 1.21-1.89) were also evident in musicians. CONCLUSION: Musicians, as a whole, consistently reported higher use of manual and alternative healthcare services and use of analgesic medication than the general Norwegian workforce.