Hundreds of non-conventional treatment modalities have been used to treat patients with diverse diseases. Whatever term is used, non-conventional remedies, complementary medicine and/or alternative therapies (CAM), or even traditional systems of medicine, have become an increasingly prominent part of health-care utilization by the healthy general population and by patients with various diseases, even in an era of rapidly advancing medical technology. It has become a significant topic not just in the lay press but also in the biomedical literature. Since 1966 more than 46,000 publications that bear this or a related term in titles or abstracts have been referenced in Medline alone. Several important journals have devoted editorials and original papers to this subject during past decade. This review presents the most recent data on the epidemiology of CAM utilization by rheumatic patients, with special emphasis on magnitude and patterns of use, and concepts of alternative versus complementary medicine.