Okay, admittedly, this is not even remotely relate to infectious diseases, my specialty. Also, the findings of this study , the purpose of which was to investigate the prevalence, patterns, and predictors of yoga use in the U.S. general population, were largely predictable, but I could not resist as the title caught my eye.
Using cross-sectional data from the 2012 National Health
Interview Survey Family Core, Sample Adult Core, and Adult Complementary and
Alternative Medicine questionnaires (N=34,525), frequencies for
lifetime and 12-month prevalence of yoga use and patterns of yoga practice were
analyzed. Using logistic regression analyses, sociodemographic predictors of
lifetime yoga use were analyzed.
Lifetime yoga practitioners
were more likely female, younger, non-Hispanic white, college educated, higher
earners, living in the West, and of better health status. Among those who had
practiced in the past 12 months, 51.2% attended yoga classes, 89.9% used
breathing exercises, and 54.9% used meditation. Yoga was practiced for general
wellness or disease prevention (78.4%), to improve energy (66.1%), or to
improve immune function (49.7%). Back pain (19.7%), stress (6.4%), and
arthritis (6.4%) were the main specific health problems for which people
practiced yoga.
In the USA, Yoga is largely practiced by young, affluent, educated white women with an interest in health and wellness, not necessarily those most in need of its potential benefits. Empiric evidence to confirm what was already suspected.
