The Determinants of Choosing Traditional Korean Medicine or Conventional Medicine: Findings from the Korea Health Panel

Table 1

Descriptive statistics on distribution of physician visit per episode (,449).

	Conventional medicine		Traditional Korean medicine		Total		value
		%		%		%
Sex							<0.0001
Female	115,581	63.5	6,587	69.4	122,168	63.8
Male	66,379	36.5	2,902	30.6	69,281	36.2
Age (years)							<0.0001
20–29	8,009	4.4	332	3.5	8,341	4.4
30–39	17,212	9.5	878	9.3	18,090	9.5
40–49	24,345	13.4	1,522	16.0	25,867	13.5
50–59	34,651	19.0	1,692	17.8	36,343	19.0
60–69	46,856	25.8	2,321	24.5	49,177	25.7
≥70	50,887	28.0	2,744	28.9	53,631	28.0
Marital status							<0.0001
Married	132,704	73.2	6,599	69.6	139,303	73.0
Divorced	38,649	21.3	2,392	25.2	41,041	21.5
Single	10,047	5.5	484	5.1	10,531	5.5
Education level							<0.0001
Elementary school	74,708	41.1	4,260	44.9	78,968	41.3
Middle school	27,655	15.2	1,231	13.0	28,886	15.1
High school	47,209	25.9	2,345	24.7	49,554	25.9
College or higher	32,388	17.8	1,653	17.4	34,041	17.8
Residence							<0.0001
Rural	117,205	64.4	5,707	60.1	122,912	64.2
Urban	64,755	35.6	3,782	39.9	68,537	35.8
Health insurance type							0.0115
Medical Aid	17,752	9.8	851	9.0	18,603	9.7
National Health Insurance	164,208	90.2	8,638	91.0	172,846	90.3
Private health insurance							0.028
No	87,589	48.1	4,458	47.0	92,047	48.1
Yes	94,371	51.9	5,031	53.0	99,402	51.9
Household income (dollars)	23,103 ± 21,169		24,012 ± 20,157		23,198 ± 21,067		<0.0001
Subjective health status (100 pts)	65.4 ± 18.1		64.9 ± 18.6		65.4 ± 18.7		0.0057
Number of chronic diseases	3.05 ± 2.43		3.20 ± 2.52		3.06 ± 2.44		0.0004
Disease							<0.0001
Neoplasm	2,876	1.6	10	0.1	2,886	1.6
Endocrine system	8,337	4.7	21	0.2	8,358	4.5
Nervous system	3,099	1.7	71	0.8	3,170	1.7
Eye and ear	6,556	3.7	27	0.3	6,583	3.5
Circulatory system	25,802	14.6	937	10.3	26,739	14.4
Respiratory system	25,996	14.7	138	1.5	26,134	14.0
Dental disease	11,844	6.7	0	0.0	11,844	6.4
Gastrointestinal disease	9,265	5.2	160	1.8	9,425	5.1
Skin and subcutaneous tissue	6,239	3.5	100	1.1	6,339	3.4
Musculoskeletal system	47,166	26.6	6,350	70.0	53,516	28.7
Genitourinary system	7,446	4.2	93	1.0	7,539	4.1
Others	22,657	12.8	1,163	12.8	23,820	12.8
Smoking							<0.0001
Current smoker	59,757	33.5	2,755	29.4	62,512	33.3
Past smoker	1,590	0.9	105	1.1	1,695	0.9
No smoking history	117,244	65.6	6,508	69.5	123,752	65.8
Drinking							<0.0001
No	55,328	31.0	2,622	28.0	57,950	30.8
Yes	123,263	69.0	6,746	72.0	130,009	69.2
Regular exercise							<0.0001
No	135,949	76.1	7,333	78.3	143,282	76.2
Yes	42,642	23.9	2,035	21.7	44,677	23.8
Unmet need							0.0001
No	145,043	81.2	7,458	79.6	152,501	81.1
Yes	33,548	18.8	1,910	20.4	35,458	18.9

Clustered error correction in univariable analysis.