Prescription Pattern of Chinese Herbal Products for Diabetes Mellitus in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study

Table 1

Demographic characteristics and results of multiple logistic regressions showing the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% CI (confidence interval) for diabetes from 1998 to 2008 in Taiwan.

Characteristic	All patients	TCM^a nonusers (%)	TCM users (%)	aOR^b (95% CI^c)
Number of cases	40,163	8,874	31,289
Gender
Male	20,971 (52.2)	5,718 (64.4)	15,253 (48.7)	1.00
Female	19,192 (47.8)	3,156 (35.6)	16,036 (51.3)	1.98 (1.88–2.08)
Age at diagnosis (years)
Mean ± SD	56.7 ± 12.4	58.3 ± 12.9	56.3 ± 12.2
20~39	3,175 (7.9)	609 (6.9)	2,566 (8.2)	1.11 (1.01–1.22)
40~59	20,523 (51.1)	4,184 (47.1)	16,339 (52.2)	1.00
60~79	15,244 (38.0)	3,653 (41.2)	11,591 (37.0)	0.79 (0.75–0.83)
≥80	1,221 (3.0)	428 (4.8)	793 (2.5)	0.46 (0.41–0.52)
Insured salaries (NT$^d/month)
0	9,981 (24.9)	2,207 (24.9)	7,774 (24.9)	1.00
1–19,999	21,256 (52.9)	4,801 (54.1)	16,455 (52.6)	1.01 (0.95–1.08)
20,000–39,999	5,414 (13.5)	982 (11.1)	4,432 (14.2)	1.33 (1.21–1.46)
≥40,000	3,512 (8.7)	884 (9.9)	2,628 (8.4)	1.02 (0.92–1.12)
Insured region
Taipei city	6,975 (17.4)	1,746 (19.7)	5,229 (16.7)	1.00
Kaohsiung city	2,802 (7.0)	606 (6.8)	2,196 (7.0)	1.21 (1.09–1.35)
Northern Taiwan	11,316 (28.2)	2,652 (29.9)	8,664 (27.7)	1.10 (1.02–1.18)
Central Taiwan	7,172 (17.8)	1,070 (12.1)	6,102 (19.5)	1.92 (1.76–2.09)
Southern Taiwan	10,447 (26.0)	2,436 (27.4)	8,011 (25.6)	1.12 (1.04–1.20)
Eastern Taiwan	1,130 (2.8)	288 (3.3)	842 (2.7)	0.97 (0.83–1.12)
Outlying islands	319 (0.8)	75 (0.8)	244 (0.8)	1.11 (0.85–1.45)
Number of diabetic complications
0	17,913 (44.6)	4,213 (47.5)	13,700 (43.8)	1.00
1	12,833 (32.0)	2,823 (31.8)	10,010 (32.0)	1.10 (1.04–1.16)
Nephropathy	2,990 (7.4)	724 (8.1)	2,266 (7.2)
Retinopathy	2,764 (6.9)	674 (7.6)	2,090 (6.7)
Neuropathy	5,339 (13.3)	993 (11.2)	4,346 (13.9)
Peripheral circulatory disorders (PCD)	844 (2.1)	213 (2.4)	631 (2.0)
Other specified manifestations	896 (2.2)	219 (2.5)	677 (2.2)
2	6,296 (15.7)	1,226 (13.8)	5,070 (16.2)	1.28 (1.19–1.38)
Nephropathy + retinopathy	1,039 (2.6)	241 (2.7)	798 (2.5)
Nephropathy + neuropathy	1,588 (4.0)	300 (3.4)	1,288 (4.1)
Nephropathy + PCD	256 (0.6)	64 (0.7)	192 (0.6)
Nephropathy + others	273 (0.7)	61 (0.7)	212 (0.7)
Retinopathy + neuropathy	1,579 (3.9)	250 (2.8)	1,329 (4.3)
Retinopathy + PCD	234 (0.6)	45 (0.5)	189 (0.6)
Retinopathy + others	206 (0.5)	46 (0.5)	160 (0.5)
Neuropathy + PCD	582 (1.4)	107 (1.2)	475 (1.5)
Neuropathy l + others	429 (1.1)	81 (0.9)	348 (1.1)
PCD + others	110 (0.3)	31 (0.4)	79 (0.3)
≥3	3,121 (7.7)	612 (6.9)	2,509 (8.0)	1.25 (1.13–1.38)
Number of medical treatments for diabetes
None	3,370 (8.4)	627 (7.1)	2,743 (8.8)
Monotherapy^e	6,048 (15.1)	1,443 (16.3)	4,605 (14.7)	1.00
Two-drug combination^f	13,609 (33.9)	3,127 (35.2)	10,482 (33.5)	1.01 (0.94–1.09)
Three-drug combination	8,675 (21.6)	1,937 (21.8)	6,738 (21.5)	1.00 (0.93–1.09)
Four-drug combination	5,026 (12.5)	1,093 (12.3)	3,933 (12.6)	1.01 (0.92–1.10)
Over five-drug combination	3,435 (8.5)	647 (7.3)	2,788 (8.9)	1.13 (1.01–1.26)

^aTCM refers to traditional Chinese medicine; ^bOR refer to odds ratio; ^cCI refers to confidence interval; ^dNT$ refers to new Taiwan dollars, of which US$ 1 = NT$30 approximately.
^eMonotherapy is the use of a single antidiabetic drug (sulfonylureas, biguanides, α-glucosidase, meglitinide, thiazolidinediones, guar gum, or insulin).
^fcombination therapy is the use of more than one antidiabetic drug.