Distributions of Usage and the Costs of Conventional Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine for Lung Cancer Patients in Taiwan
Table 1
Sociodemographic factors of patients with lung cancer.
Characteristic
Nonsurgery (N = 6,939)
Surgery (N = 738)
P value for interaction
TCM nonusers
TCM users
Adjusteda OR (95% CI)
TCM nonusers
TCM users
Adjusteda OR (95% CI)
Patient no.
5113
1826
508
230
Age
0.45
<50
789 (15.43)
412 (22.56)
1.00
88 (17.32)
47 (20.43)
1.00
50s
784 (15.33)
339 (18.57)
0.85 (0.69–1.05)
132 (25.98)
72 (31.30)
1.24 (0.72–2.13)
60s
1186 (23.20)
469 (25.68)
0.85 (0.70–1.04)
148 (29.13)
59 (25.65)
0.88 (0.48–1.61)
≥70s
2354 (46.04)
606 (33.19)
0.60 (0.49–0.73)+
140 (27.56)
52 (22.61)
0.68 (0.35–1.31)
Gender
0.43
Female
1855 (36.28)
796 (43.59)
1.00
195 (38.39)
115 (50.00)
1.00
Male
3258 (63.72)
1030 (56.41)
0.86 (0.75–0.98)*
313 (61.61)
115 (50.00)
0.69 (0.46–1.04)
TCM use one year prior to lung cancer diagnosis
0.45
TCM nonusers
4024 (78.70)
799 (43.76)
1.00
397 (78.15)
111 (48.26)
1.00
TCM users
1089 (21.30)
1027 (56.24)
4.55 (4.00–5.17)+
111 (21.85)
119 (51.74)
4.07 (2.74–6.04)+
Insured amount (NT$/month)
0.53
<20,000
3292 (64.38)
1079 (59.09)
—
297 (58.46)
127 (55.22)
1.00
20,000–39,999
1476 (28.87)
527 (31.33)
1.34 (1.12–1.60)#
159 (31.30)
67 (29.13)
1.46 (0.83–2.58)
40,000–59,999
218 (4.26)
113 (6.19)
1.23 (0.92–1.66)
41 (8.07)
22 (9.57)
1.93 (0.95–3.91)
≥60,000
127 (2.48)
62 (3.40)
1.10 (0.75–1.61)
11 (2.17)
14 (6.09)
3.18 (1.18–8.56)*
Urban level
0.67
1
1217 (25.80)
478 (28.901)
1.00
141 (29.87)
74 (36.45)
1.00
2
1298 (27.52)
407 (24.61)
1.35 (1.03–1.77)*
128 (27.12)
51 (25.12)
2.05 (0.83–5.04)
3
704 (14.92)
293 (17.71)
1.08 (0.84–1.40)
76 (16.10)
31 (15.27)
1.70 (0.71–4.08)
4
818 (17.34)
300 (18.14)
1.47 (1.14–1.91)#
77 (16.31)
28 (13.79)
1.28 (0.54–3.05)
≥5
680 (14.42)
176 (10.64)
1.22 (0.96–1.55)
50 (10.59)
19 (9.36)
1.49 (0.66–3.32)
Residential area
0.79
Northern
592 (12.27)
177 (10.45)
1.00
50 (10.44)
19 (9.18)
1.00
Taipei
1655 (34.31)
543 (32.05)
1.09 (0.85–1.39)
197 (41.13)
80 (38.65)
0.82 (0.38–1.78)
Central
886 (18.37)
434 (25.62)
1.55 (1.21–1.97)+
71 (14.82)
44 (21.26)
1.44 (0.64–3.21)
Southern
799 (16.57)
246 (14.46)
1.12 (0.86–1.46)
86 (17.95)
32 (15.46)
1.02 (0.45–2.33)
Eastern
143 (2.96)
39 (2.30)
1.10 (0.70–1.73)
6 (1.25)
2 (0.97)
1.49 (0.21–10.54)
Kao-Ping
748 (15.51)
256 (15.11)
1.32 (1.02–1.71)*
69 (14.41)
30 (14.49)
0.96 (0.41–2.23)
Insured unit
0.96
Government, school employees
310 (6.81)
134 (8.10)
1.00
44 (9.57)
17 (8.67)
1.00
Private enterprise employees
914 (20.09)
436 (26.34)
1.00 (0.77–1.29)
123 (26.74)
61 (31.12)
1.13 (0.55–2.32)
Occupational member
600 (13.19)
235 (14.20)
0.69 (0.51–0.93)*
88 (19.13)
33 (16.84)
0.75 (0.33–1.74)
Farmers, fishermen
1351 (29.69)
404 (24.41)
0.72 (0.53–0.97)*
101 (21.96)
40 (20.41)
1.45 (0.60–3.52)
Low-income households and veterans, other regional
1375 (30.22)
446 (26.95)
0.98 (0.75–1.28)
104 (22.61)
45 (22.96)
1.88 (0.84–4.24)
TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval. *<0.05; #<0.01; +<0.001; aadjusted ORs were from the model considering age, gender, visit one year ago, insured amount, residential area, and insured unit.
