School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Institute of Integrative Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 852, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Hong Kong, 852, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 8;7(1):7513. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07538-5.
Primary care manages >90% of illnesses requiring medical services in Hong Kong, in which 9,513 registered Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) provide 8.2% of the consultations. This is the first study aimed to determine the morbidity pattern in different Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) primary care settings in Chinese population. 55,312 patients' encounters were classified by the International Classification of Primary Care-2 (ICPC-2) from 260 of CMPs. Mean patient age was 50.5 years, with more females than males (67.0% vs 33.0%). Most patients consulted CMPs for chronic (64% vs 33.7%) rather than acute conditions. Among the 30% of patients, hypertension (49.5%) or diabetes (18.5%) were the most common co-morbidity. The most common problems presenting to CMP were respiratory (24.9%), musculoskeletal complaints (22.7%), cough (11.7%), and lower back pain (6.6%). To our knowledge, this was the first study permitting direct comparison with that presenting to Western medicine (WM) primary care by ICPC-2 systems. The results confirmed the role of CMP in primary care for musculoskeletal or chronic illnesses that they may have also received conventional WM treatment. We recommend greater effort and more resources should be invested to promote interdisciplinary communication to ensure safety and synergy of TCM and WM in primary care.
在香港，基层医疗照顾超过 90%需要医疗服务的疾病，其中 9513 名注册中医师提供 8.2%的诊症服务。这是第一项旨在确定华人基层中医医疗环境中不同发病模式的研究。从 260 名中医师的诊症中，通过国际初级保健分类-2（ICPC-2）对 55312 名患者的就诊进行了分类。患者的平均年龄为 50.5 岁，女性多于男性（67.0%比 33.0%）。大多数患者因慢性病（64%比 33.7%）而非急性病就诊。在 30%的患者中，高血压（49.5%）或糖尿病（18.5%）是最常见的合并症。向中医师就诊的最常见问题是呼吸系统（24.9%）、肌肉骨骼投诉（22.7%）、咳嗽（11.7%）和下背痛（6.6%）。据我们所知，这是第一项通过 ICPC-2 系统与向西医（WM）基层医疗就诊进行直接比较的研究。研究结果证实了中医师在基层医疗中对肌肉骨骼或慢性疾病的作用，他们可能也接受了常规 WM 治疗。我们建议投入更多的努力和资源，以促进跨学科交流，确保中医和 WM 在基层医疗中的安全性和协同作用。
