Liu Shu-Hui, Wu Chao-Shun, Lin Yun-Lian, Hsiao Yu-Chen, Yang Chun-Yuh, Sung Fung-Chang, Li Chung-Yi, Wu Trong-Neng
Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Tohoku J Exp Med. 2008 Oct;216(2):187-94. doi: 10.1620/tjem.216.187.
Studies on the physicians' health have paid less attention on the Chinese medicine than on the western medicine professionals. Like western medicine professionals, Chinese medicine physicians' health condition is critical to the quality of care and patients' safety. They also cared a large number of patients in many Asia societies. However, no data have been reported regarding the health problems associated with Chinese medicine physicians. The aim of this study was to examine the mortality patterns of a cohort consisting of 6109 male physicians of Chinese medicine who were followed from 1991 through 2003 in Taiwan. The analyses of female subjects were not included due to small sample size. We calculated the overall and cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and life expectancy of the study cohort using the death rates of some 11 millions of Taiwanese male population as reference. We found out that physicians of Chinese medicine experienced significantly lower death rate of mortality from all causes (SMR = 0.63, 95% > CI: 0.57, 0.69), from malignant neoplasms (SMR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.82) and from cerebrovascular disease (SMR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.72). Additionally, they have longer life expectancy (ranged from 3 years to approximately 15 years). Our study is crucial to evaluate potential health risks associated with Chinese medicine physicians. Although this study did not reveal elevated death rate among Chinese medicine physicians, researchers and policy makers should not overlook other heath problems that Chinese medicine physicians might have experienced.
对医生健康状况的研究，相较于西医专业人员，对中医的关注较少。与西医专业人员一样，中医医生的健康状况对医疗质量和患者安全至关重要。在许多亚洲社会，他们也诊治大量患者。然而，关于中医医生相关健康问题，尚无数据报道。本研究的目的是调查一个由6109名男性中医医生组成的队列在1991年至2003年期间于台湾的死亡模式。由于样本量小，未纳入女性受试者的分析。我们以约1100万台湾男性人口的死亡率为参考，计算了该研究队列的总体及特定病因标准化死亡比（SMR）和预期寿命。我们发现，中医医生的全因死亡率（SMR = 0.63，95%可信区间：0.57，0.69）、恶性肿瘤死亡率（SMR = 0.69，95%可信区间：0.57，0.82）和脑血管疾病死亡率（SMR = 0.53，95%可信区间：0.38，0.72）显著较低。此外，他们的预期寿命更长（范围从3年到约15年）。我们的研究对于评估与中医医生相关的潜在健康风险至关重要。尽管本研究未揭示中医医生死亡率升高，但研究人员和政策制定者不应忽视中医医生可能经历的其他健康问题。
