Objectives: To describe estimates of the number and characteristics of persons who had used mindfulness meditation in the U.S.
Design: Data from 108,131 adults from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey were weighted to produce national estimates representative of the U.S.
Population: Persons who used mindfulness meditation were identified by their response to the question "During the past 12 months, did you use mindfulness meditation?"
Results: An estimated 2,029,720 adults had used mindfulness meditation. Compared with those who did not meditate, more meditators endorsed moderate exercise (79.6% vs. 54.8%; p < 0.0001). More meditators had low-back and neck pain and headache (36.7% vs. 28.9 [p = 0.0002]; 26.4% vs. 14.7% [p<0.0001]; 19.1% vs. 12.1% [p<0.0001], respectively). More meditators reported being nervous or feeling sad at least a little of the time (60.4% vs. 37.8% and 34% vs. 23.5%, respectively; p<0.0001) and being frequently stressed (56.4% vs. 29.0%; p<0.0001).
Conclusions: Mindfulness meditation was used by an estimated 2,029,720 adults in the United States in 2012. More meditators than nonmeditators reported more pain and reported feeling nervous or sad and being stressed, suggesting a reason for using mindfulness meditation.
Keywords: NHIS; meditation; mindfulness; population estimate.