Utilization of Chinese medicine for respiratory discomforts by patients with a medical history of tuberculosis in Taiwan

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the patients with tuberculosis in Taiwan

Variable	Non-CM users		CM users^†		P-value
	n = 1874 (44.753%)		n = 2051 (52.25%)
	n	%	n	%
Sex					<.0001*
Female	354	18.89	861	41.98
Male	1520	81.11	1190	58.02
Age at baseline (year)					<.0001*
18–29	100	5.34	293	14.29
30–39	127	6.78	242	11.8
≥ 40	1647	87.89	1516	73.92
Mean (SD)	64.06 (17.68)		53.25 (18.03)		<.0001‡
Urbanization					<.0001*
1 (highest)	408	21.77	529	25.8
2	431	23	607	29.61
3	327	17.45	345	16.83
4	354	18.89	306	14.93
5+ (lowest)	354	18.89	263	12.83
Drug used
rifampin	1819	97.07	2005	97.76	0.1714*
ethambutol	1796	95.84	1985	96.78	0.116*
isoniazid	1802	96.16	1972	96.15	0.9874*
pyrazinamide	1581	84.36	1798	87.66	0.0028*
levofloxacin	456	24.33	536	26.13	0.1948*
streptomycin	131	6.99	113	5.51	0.055*
kanamycin	73	3.9	81	3.95	0.9308*
prothionamide	18	0.96	24	1.17	0.5237*
cyclosporine	2	0.11	5	0.24	0.456$
moxifloxacin	0	0	1	0.05	–
Interval between the onset oftuberculosis and the first CM consultation, days(median)			1395 (1068)		–

‡ t-test; * chi-square; $ Fisher’s exact test
Abbreviation: SD standard deviation, CM Chinese Medicine
† CM users referred to patients with history of TB who had visited CM clinics and had CM outpatient clinical records of tuberculosis or respiratory diseases

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