Medical Conditions and Preference of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Results from the China Healthcare Improvement Evaluation Survey

Abstract

Qi Zhao, Ran Guo, Zixuan Fan, Linlin Hu, Zhimin Hu, Yuanli Liu School of Health Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yuanli Liu, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 9 Dongdansantiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Although complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used around the world, there has been a lack of comprehensive understanding of major factors affecting patients’ decision to use CAM. This study aimed to describe the preferences of Chinese patients regarding what conditions they will use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for and to determine the factors associated with these preferences.Patients and Methods: This study used data from the China Healthcare Improvement Evaluation Survey in January 2021, a national cross-sectional survey conducted at 163 hospitals across 31 provinces. A convenient sampling method was used to conduct the patient satisfaction survey, and 28,993 patients in an ambulatory setting constituted our study sample on TCM use. A multiple-choice question regarding TCM listed nine medical conditions and asked the patient about what condition he/she and his/her family members would use TCM. In addition to descriptive statistics, we used a binary logistic regression model to investigate factors affecting the likelihood of patients’ decision to use TCM for multiple conditions.Results: The majority of the surveyed patients (76.3%) would use TCM for the purpose of disease prevention, and more than half (67.3%) for multiple medical/health conditions, 34.0% for dealing with chronic diseases, 33.0% for common symptoms, 26.9% for rehabilitation, and 26.3% for sleeping disorder. Female and older patients, as well as patients with a higher education level, urban residency, and higher family income, were found to be associated with a higher probability of using TCM for multiple conditions than their counterparts (odd ratios [OR]> 1, P< 0.05).Conclusion: This study reveals a preference for TCM in a large sample of Chinese patients, especially used for prevention. Generally, patients with a higher socioeconomic status had a more positive attitude toward TCM.Keywords: use of traditional Chinese medicine, medical conditions, consideration

Keywords

• use of traditional chinese medicine
• medical conditions
• consideration