Complementary and alternative medicine use among infertile women attending infertility specialty clinics in South Korea: does perceived severity matter?

Table 5 Clinical characteristics of respondents by perceived severity of disease (n = 263)

Characteristics	Overall n = 263 (%)	High perceived severity n = 158 (%)	Low perceived severity n = 105 (%)	P-value
Self-perceived stress (Mean ± SD)*	3.77 ± 0.83	4.16 ± 0.69	3.18 ± 0.68
Severe (4,5)	158 (60.1)	132 (83.5)	26 (24.8)	< 0.001^a
Not severe (1,2,3)	105 (39.9)	26 (16.5)	79 (75.2)
Infertility treatment duration
< 2 years	172 (65.4)	87 (55.1)	85 (81.0)	< 0.001^a
2–4 years	57 (21.7)	44 (27.8)	13 (12.4)
> 4 years	34 (12.9)	27 (17.1)	7 (6.7)
Practice of health-promoting behavior (Mean ± SD)^#	3.02 ± 0.68	3.04 ± 0.70	2.98 ± 0.65
Yes (4,5)	52 (19.8)	34 (21.5)	18 (17.1)	0.431^a
No (1,2,3)	211 (80.2)	124 (78.5)	87 (82.9)
Time since diagnosis
< 2 years	137 (52.1)	68 (43.0)	69 (65.7)	0.001^a
2–4 years	69 (26.2)	50 (31.6)	19 (18.1)
> 4 years	57 (21.7)	40 (25.3)	17 (16.2)

*Participants were asked to rate their self-perceived stress level (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much)
^# Participants were asked to rate their practice of health-promoting behavior (practicing a healthy diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep) (1 = Never, 5 = Always)
^a Denotes Pearson’s Chi-square tests

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