School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155 Sec. 2 Li-Nong St., Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan.
Complement Ther Med. 2011 Jun;19(3):137-43. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2011.04.001. Epub 2011 May 2.
The National Health Insurance (NHI) provided Western medicine (WM) and Chinese medicine (CM) in Taiwan. This study aims to explore CM use by women with breast cancer under NHI.
Using NHI Research Database, a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Women with breast cancer were identified by diagnosis codes. Their claims of CM and WM outpatient services of 2007 were analyzed.
Among 70,012 female breast cancer patients, the prevalence of insurance covered CM was 35.6%. Among all CM users, 4379 (17.5%) patients visited CM for breast cancer. More than half CM users (67.6%) had less than 6 visits and 16.3% users had more than 12 visits. The majority of CM users (87.6%) also used WM ambulatory services. Private clinics (76.7%) provided the most CM services, followed by private hospitals (16.9%). The most frequently used CM therapies were Chinese herbal medicine (80.5%), followed by acupuncture/traumatology manipulative therapies (22.3%). The average cost of CM was US$17.6 per visit and US$119.7 per user annually. CM users were more likely to be younger than 60 years old, employees, with higher income, and not living in Northern Taiwan.
A significant portion of breast cancer patients used insurance covered CM. Most CM users also used WM. The potential of drug-herb interactions should be concerned.
台湾的全民健康保险（NHI）提供西医（WM）和中医（CM）服务。本研究旨在探讨 NHI 下女性乳腺癌患者对 CM 的使用情况。
使用 NHI 研究数据库，进行回顾性横断面研究。通过诊断代码确定乳腺癌女性患者。分析了 2007 年 CM 和 WM 门诊服务的报销情况。
在 70012 名女性乳腺癌患者中，CM 保险覆盖的患病率为 35.6%。在所有 CM 用户中，有 4379 名（17.5%）患者因乳腺癌就诊于 CM。超过一半的 CM 用户（67.6%）就诊次数少于 6 次，16.3%的用户就诊次数超过 12 次。大多数 CM 用户（87.6%）也使用 WM 门诊服务。私人诊所（76.7%）提供最多的 CM 服务，其次是私人医院（16.9%）。最常使用的 CM 疗法是中草药（80.5%），其次是针灸/推拿疗法（22.3%）。CM 每次就诊的平均费用为 17.6 美元，每年每位用户的费用为 119.7 美元。CM 用户更可能年龄小于 60 岁、为员工、收入较高，且不住在台湾北部。
相当一部分乳腺癌患者使用了保险覆盖的 CM。大多数 CM 用户也使用 WM。应关注药物-草药相互作用的潜在风险。
