Cheng Ting-Yi, Chou Yiing-Jenq, Huang Nicole, Pu Christy, Chou Yu-Ju, Chou Pesus
1Institute of Public Health, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
2Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Heping Fuyou Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Altern Complement Med. 2015 Jun;21(6):350-7. doi: 10.1089/acm.2014.0227. Epub 2015 May 12.
Numerous people with chronic conditions like to use traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment, or integrated treatment of TCM and Western medicine (WM). Our study explored the associations between multiple chronic conditions (MCC) and TCM use and the use of specific types of TCM therapy among adults in Taiwan. In addition, we explored the TCM use of adults with seven common types of chronic conditions.
In our study, a national representative sample in 2005 was used. The Chronic Condition Indicator and the Clinical Classifications System created by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were used to define the number of chronic conditions of adults. Logistic regressions adjusted for demographic characteristics were used to analyze the associations. The frequency of TCM use among adults with different numbers of chronic conditions was quantified.
TCM use for adults with ≥5 chronic conditions (odds ratio [OR] 1.86) was higher than TCM use for adults with 2-4 chronic conditions (OR 1.51) and TCM use for adults with one chronic condition (OR 1.48). The increase in the OR of the use of Chinese herbs and traumatology manipulative therapy according to the number of chronic conditions was not as substantial as that of acupuncture-moxibustion. The frequency of TCM use exhibited an increasing trend with the increase in the number of chronic conditions (p<.001). Among the seven common types of chronic conditions for adults, TCM use for adults with arthropathy (OR 2.01) was the highest.
The probability and frequency of TCM use increased as the number of chronic conditions increased. The probability of Chinese herbs use, traumatology manipulative therapy use, and, particularly, acupuncture-moxibustion use increased as the number of chronic conditions increased. We suggest that government policy makers emphasize administering integrated TCM and WM care to people with chronic conditions or MCC.
许多患有慢性病的人喜欢使用中医治疗，或采用中西医结合治疗。我们的研究探讨了台湾成年人中多种慢性病（MCC）与中医使用以及特定类型中医治疗方法使用之间的关联。此外，我们还研究了患有七种常见慢性病的成年人的中医使用情况。
在我们的研究中，使用了2005年的全国代表性样本。采用美国医疗保健研究与质量局创建的慢性病指标和临床分类系统来确定成年人的慢性病数量。使用经人口统计学特征调整的逻辑回归分析关联。对患有不同数量慢性病的成年人的中医使用频率进行了量化。
患有≥5种慢性病的成年人使用中医的比例（优势比[OR]为1.86）高于患有2 - 4种慢性病的成年人（OR为1.51）和患有1种慢性病的成年人（OR为1.48）。根据慢性病数量，中草药和骨伤手法治疗使用比例的增加幅度不如针灸显著。中医使用频率随慢性病数量的增加呈上升趋势（p<.001）。在成年人的七种常见慢性病中，患有关节病的成年人使用中医的比例最高（OR为2.01）。
中医使用的可能性和频率随着慢性病数量的增加而增加。中草药使用、骨伤手法治疗使用，尤其是针灸使用的可能性随着慢性病数量的增加而增加。我们建议政府政策制定者重视为慢性病患者或患有多种慢性病的人提供中西医结合的护理。
