Traditional Chinese Medicine Decreases the Stroke Risk of Systemic Corticosteroid Treatment in Dermatitis: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Table 1

Demographic characteristics and comorbidity in patients with and without dermatitis.

Variables	Dermatitis				value^†
	No		Yes
	()		()
		%		%
Sex
Female	136734	58.13	136734	58.13	0.99
Male	98486	41.87	98486	41.87
Age, years
20–39	118623	50.43	118623	50.43	0.99
40–49	51025	21.69	51025	21.69
50–59	31596	13.43	31596	13.43
≥60	33976	14.44	33976	14.44
Mean (SD)^†	41.47 ± 15.92		41.93 ± 15.52		<0.0001
Comorbidity
Asthma	9394	3.99	14123	6.00	<0.0001
Allergic rhinitis	21178	9.00	33243	14.13	<0.0001
Urticaria	11167	4.75	26983	11.47	<0.0001
Diabetes mellitus, DM	14864	6.32	20171	8.58	<0.0001
Hypertension	32216	13.70	40360	17.16	<0.0001
Hyperlipidemia	14819	6.30	21579	9.17	<0.0001
Atrial fibrillation, AF	625	0.27	700	0.30	0.0391
Treatment
TCM (excluded acupuncture)	183949	78.20	207890	88.38	<0.0001
Systemic corticosteroid	160541	68.25	206402	87.75	<0.0001
Dexamethasone	103693	44.08	146470	62.27	<0.0001
Methyl prednisolone	35995	15.30	62122	26.41	<0.0001
Prednisolone	128167	54.49	182906	77.76	<0.0001
Treatment (new)
Non-TCM and nonsystemic steroid	25312	10.76	5507	2.34	<0.0001
Only TCM	49367	20.99	23311	9.91
Only systemic steroid	25959	11.04	21823	9.28
TCM and systemic steroid	134582	57.22	184579	78.47
Outcome
Stroke	10006	4.25	13079	5.56	<0.0001
Hemorrhagic stroke	1543	0.66	1463	0.62	0.1432
Ischemic stroke	9277	3.94	12450	5.29	<0.0001

Chi-square test; ^†two-sample -test.