Chinese medicine utilization and health related trajectories: An 8-year longitudinal study

• Main Authors: Yu-ChingHsu, 徐瑜璟
• Other Authors: Ching-Ju Chiu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/88235380157801674419

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 老年學研究所 === 101 === Background: There is very limited understanding of longitudinal health impacts in Chinese medicine (CM) users. This study examined health-related trajectories, including cognitive function, depressive symptoms, physical limitations and self-rated health, between CM users and non-users. Methods: A sample of 3,695 community-dwelling adults, aged 53-80 years, in the 1999 Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA) were selected in this study and followed up in 2003 and 2007 to investigate their health trajectories. We identified CM users via asking whether subjects had visited clinic of Chinese medicine in the previous year at baseline and each follow-up. Hierarchical linear modeling was used, adjusting for dynamic measurements of socio-demographic and health-related variables. Results: Twenty to twenty-three percent of the adults reported having used CM in at least one wave during 1999-2007, and only four percent of adults used CM across all waves. Controlled for known social-demographic and health-related covariates, adults using CM were associated with higher depressive symptoms (3.053 vs. 2.074) and poorer self-rated health (2.577 vs. 2.844) at baseline, but their rates of change over time did not differ from their counterpart not using CM. In addition, levels and rates of change in cognitive function and physical limitation were not different in adults with and without using CM. Conclusions: This is the first study evaluating longitudinal impact of CM on population health while controlling for known demographic and physical factors. CM does not particularly influence the long-term health trajectories of adults as they age. However, the significantly improved model fit suggests CM use as an important role in explaining population health. Future research may be fruitful by investigating factors accounted for higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower self-rated health observed in adults using CM.