The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Korean Breast Cancer Women: Is It Associated with Severity of Symptoms?

Table 1

Participants’ characteristics according to CAM use.

Characteristics	CAM users		Nonusers		Total		value
		%		%		%
	193	67.0	95	33.0	288	100.0
Age group							0.003
<46	59	30.6	27	28.4	86	29.9
46–54	76	39.4	19	20.0	95	33.0
>54	58	30.1	49	51.6	107	37.2
Religion							0.122
Western	123	63.7	46	48.4	169	58.7
Eastern	70	36.3	49	51.6	119	41.3
Education							0.027
≤High school	113	58.5	67	70.5	180	62.5
≥University	80	41.5	28	29.5	108	37.5
Marital status							0.455
Single	30	15.5	20	21.1	50	17.4
Married	163	84.5	75	78.9	238	82.6
Employed							0.320
No	99	51.3	60	63.2	159	55.2
Yes	94	48.7	35	36.8	129	44.8
Household income							0.797
<5 million won/month	111	57.5	71	74.7	182	63.2
≥5 million won/month	82	42.5	24	25.3	106	36.8
Family history of cancer							0.465
No	139	72.0	71	74.7	210	72.9
Yes	54	28.0	24	25.3	78	27.1
Residence							0.537
Seoul	114	59.1	42	44.2	156	54.2
Elsewhere	79	40.9	53	55.8	132	45.8
Where diagnosed							0.119
Tertiary care hospitals	75	38.9	45	47.4	120	41.7
Other	118	61.1	50	52.6	168	58.3
Detected by							0.616
Screening	109	56.5	65	68.4	174	60.4
Symptoms	84	43.5	30	31.6	114	39.6
Months since diagnosis							0.036
<12	47	24.4	32	33.7	79	27.4
12–36	65	33.7	26	27.4	91	31.6
37–60	38	19.7	18	18.9	56	19.4
>60	43	22.3	19	20.0	62	21.5

5 million Korean won (KRW) was about 4,500 US dollars at the time of survey.