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The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) utilization is common in Asian countries. Limited studies are available on the socioeconomic status (SES) associated with TCM use among the pediatric population. We report on the association between SES and TCM use among children and adolescents in Taiw...

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Autores principales: Shih, Chun-Chuan, Liao, Chien-Chang, Su, Yi-Chang, Yeh, Tsu F, Lin, Jaung-Geng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22293135
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-27
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author Shih, Chun-Chuan
Liao, Chien-Chang
Su, Yi-Chang
Yeh, Tsu F
Lin, Jaung-Geng
author_facet Shih, Chun-Chuan
Liao, Chien-Chang
Su, Yi-Chang
Yeh, Tsu F
Lin, Jaung-Geng
author_sort Shih, Chun-Chuan
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) utilization is common in Asian countries. Limited studies are available on the socioeconomic status (SES) associated with TCM use among the pediatric population. We report on the association between SES and TCM use among children and adolescents in Taiwan. METHODS: A National Health Interview Survey was conducted in Taiwan in 2001 that included 5,971 children and adolescents. We assessed the children's SES using the head of household's education, occupation and income. This information was used to calculate pediatric SES scores, which in turn were divided into quartiles. Children and adolescents who visited TCM in the past month were defined as TCM users. RESULTS: Compared to children in the second SES quartile, children in the fourth SES quartile had a higher average number of TCM visits (0.12 vs. 0.06 visits, p = 0.027) and higher TCM use prevalence (5.0% vs. 3.6%, p = 0.024) within the past month. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for TCM use was higher for children in the fourth SES quartile than for those in the first SES quartile (OR 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-2.17). The corresponding OR was 2.17 for girls (95% CI 1.24-3.78). The highest-SES girls (aged 10-18 years) were most likely to visit TCM practices (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.25-4.90). CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with high SES were more likely to use TCM and especially girls aged 10-18 years. Our findings point to the high use of complementary and alternative medicine among children and adolescents.
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spelling pubmed-33591562012-05-24 The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan Shih, Chun-Chuan Liao, Chien-Chang Su, Yi-Chang Yeh, Tsu F Lin, Jaung-Geng BMC Health Serv Res Research Article BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) utilization is common in Asian countries. Limited studies are available on the socioeconomic status (SES) associated with TCM use among the pediatric population. We report on the association between SES and TCM use among children and adolescents in Taiwan. METHODS: A National Health Interview Survey was conducted in Taiwan in 2001 that included 5,971 children and adolescents. We assessed the children's SES using the head of household's education, occupation and income. This information was used to calculate pediatric SES scores, which in turn were divided into quartiles. Children and adolescents who visited TCM in the past month were defined as TCM users. RESULTS: Compared to children in the second SES quartile, children in the fourth SES quartile had a higher average number of TCM visits (0.12 vs. 0.06 visits, p = 0.027) and higher TCM use prevalence (5.0% vs. 3.6%, p = 0.024) within the past month. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for TCM use was higher for children in the fourth SES quartile than for those in the first SES quartile (OR 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-2.17). The corresponding OR was 2.17 for girls (95% CI 1.24-3.78). The highest-SES girls (aged 10-18 years) were most likely to visit TCM practices (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.25-4.90). CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with high SES were more likely to use TCM and especially girls aged 10-18 years. Our findings point to the high use of complementary and alternative medicine among children and adolescents. BioMed Central 2012-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3359156/ /pubmed/22293135 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-27 Text en Copyright ©2012 Shih et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Shih, Chun-Chuan
Liao, Chien-Chang
Su, Yi-Chang
Yeh, Tsu F
Lin, Jaung-Geng
The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title_full The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title_fullStr The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title_full_unstemmed The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title_short The association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in Taiwan
title_sort association between socioeconomic status and traditional chinese medicine use among children in taiwan
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22293135
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-27
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