Increasing Trend of Yoga Practice Among U.S. Adults from 2002 to 2017
Author: Yan Zhang1,2, Romy Lauche2,3, Holger Cramer2,3,4, Niki Munk2,3,5, Jeff A Dennis6
Affiliation:
1 Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA.
2 Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
3 National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM), Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia.
4 Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Evang. Kliniken Essen-Mitte, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
5 Department of Health Sciences, Indiana University School of Health and Human Sciences, Indianapolis, Indiana.
6 Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.
Conference/Journal: J Altern Complement Med
Date published: 2021 Jun 1
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1089/acm.2020.0506. , Word Count: 252
Introduction: Benefits, risks, and the increasing popularity of yoga use warrant assessing yoga practice prevalence and users' profiles. This study describes trends in yoga practice exclusively among American adults from 2002 to 2017, compares the profile of yoga users, and identifies factors related to yoga use over time. Materials and Methods: This study is a secondary analysis done in 2019 and 2020 using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 data. Population weights were used to obtain statistically accurate estimates of yoga use prevalence for the U.S. population. Descriptive statistics were used to profile the sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of yoga users. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with yoga use in each cohort defined by the NHIS year. Results: Yoga practice prevalence nearly tripled from 5.1% in 2002 to 13.7% in 2017 (weighted estimate 10,386,456 and 32,761,194 American adults, respectively). Typical yoga users were young non-Hispanic single white female adults with bachelor or higher education and health insurance, and resided in the west region of the United States. Yoga use pattern change over time was significantly related to only younger age (p < 0.001) but not to other sociodemographic or health-related factors. Conclusions: Yoga has gained increasing popularity in the past two decades among American adults, with younger adults being the driving force. Yoga appears to be adopted for general well-being or prevention more than for specific disease treatment. Future research should evaluate how yoga can be effectively and safely integrated into preventive medicine strategies.
Keywords: American adult; National Health Interview Survey; trend; well-being; yoga.
PMID: 34076530 DOI: 10.1089/acm.2020.0506
BACK
