JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

At least six communities with unusually good health and longevity have been identified, but their lifestyles aren’t adopted widely. Informal evidence suggests that women associated with Universal Medicine (UM), a complementary medicine health care organization in Eastern Australia and the United Kingdom with normal lifestyles, also have several unusual health indicators.

Objective:

Our objective was to determine how UM participants compared with women in the Australian population at large on a variety of health indicators.

Methods:

In an Internet survey conducted July to September 2015, a total of 449 female UM participants from 15 countries responded to 43 health indicator questions taken from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH).

Results:

Survey responses revealed large positive differences in mental and physical health when compared with the ALSWH respondents, except for abnormal Pap test and low iron history. Differences and corresponding effect size estimates (Cohen d; ≥0.8 is a high difference, ≥0.5 a medium and ≥0.2 a small one with P<.001 except where indicated) included body mass index (BMI; 1.11), stress level (0.20, P=.006), depression (0.44), summary physical (0.31) and mental health (0.37), general mental health (0.39), emotional (0.15, P=.009) and social functioning (0.22), vitality (0.58), and general health (0.49), as well as lower incidences of diabetes, hypertension, and thrombosis (P<.001 each). Neither education levels nor country of residence had predictive value. Age did not predict BMI.

Conclusions:

The women’s responses notably claim substantially lower levels of illness and disease than in the general Australian population. Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12617000972325; https://www.anzctr. org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=373120&isReview=true (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/ 6wEDDn45O)