Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2015 Nov 1;16(11):1002.e1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2015.07.011. Epub 2015 Sep 3.
Although traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is known as an integrative part of China's health care system, little is known on the prevalence and determinants of using TCM among the middle-aged and older Chinese population, especially among those with chronic conditions.
The nationwide survey data of 17,708 Chinese adults aged 45 and older from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were used to estimate the prevalence of TCM. SAS SURVEYLOGISTIC procedure was applied to identify factors associated with using TCM. Analysis took into account the complex survey design and nonresponse rate.
The prevalence of using TCM was 19.3% (95% CI 18.4%-20.1%) among the overall participants and 24.5% (95% CI 23.4%-25.5%) among those with self-reported chronic conditions. Participants with stroke, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney diseases were the most frequent users of TCM to treat their conditions. Age, individual income, and family income were associated with TCM use; however, when further controlling for chronic diseases, these variables became nonsignificant. Besides TCM, 4.4% (3.8%-5.0%) and 4.6% (4.0%-5.2%) of the overall participants and those with chronic conditions, respectively, used other forms of complementary and alternative medicine.
The prevalence of using TCM was high among the middle-aged and older Chinese population. The use of TCM was mainly driven by chronic conditions. The main conditions that patients used TCM to treat were stroke, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease.
尽管中医药被认为是中国卫生保健体系的一个组成部分，但对于中年和老年人，尤其是患有慢性病的人群中使用中医药的流行率和决定因素知之甚少。
本研究使用来自中国健康与退休纵向研究的 17708 名 45 岁及以上中国成年人的全国性调查数据来估计中医药的使用情况。应用 SAS SURVEYLOGISTIC 程序来确定与使用中医药相关的因素。分析考虑了复杂的调查设计和无应答率。
在所有参与者中，使用中医药的比例为 19.3%（95%置信区间 18.4%-20.1%），在自我报告患有慢性病的参与者中，这一比例为 24.5%（95%置信区间 23.4%-25.5%）。患有中风、心血管疾病和慢性肾病的参与者是最常使用中医药治疗疾病的人群。年龄、个人收入和家庭收入与中医药的使用有关；然而，当进一步控制慢性病时，这些变量变得没有意义。除了中医药，4.4%（3.8%-5.0%）和 4.6%（4.0%-5.2%）的所有参与者和患有慢性病的参与者分别使用了其他形式的补充和替代医学。
中医药在中年和老年人中使用的比例较高。中医药的使用主要由慢性病驱动。患者使用中医药治疗的主要疾病是中风、心血管疾病和慢性肾病。
