健保資料庫研究團隊 - 氣喘的病人服用中藥可以降低醫療利用率
健保資料庫研究團隊 - 氣喘的病人服用中藥可以降低醫療利用率
📝 這是我們最近發表一篇論文，
🔎 指出氣喘的病人服用中藥可以降低醫療利用率，節省醫療花費。
中醫藥相關研究也是台灣健保資料庫的強項之一，大數據研究的準臨床實驗模式 Quasi-clinical trial，可以彌補 RCT 隨機對照臨床試驗的不足，
特別適用於大樣本、長時間的結局指標。
Summary
Background
Many patients with atopic diseases, including asthma, have sought complementary and alternative medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments. But, limited clinical studies have yet examined TCM effects on medical utility in asthma patients.
Aim
To assess the medical utility of TCM in patients with asthma.
Design
Population-based retrospective cohort study.
Methods
We performed a 13-year population-based retrospective cohort study. A total of 5235 asthma patients who were TCM users and 5235 propensity-score matched asthma patients who never used TCM were sampled from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000 to 2012. We compared these two groups of patients to calculate their medical utility, including numbers of emergency visits and hospitalizations until 2013. Univariate analyses were performed using Chi-square tests for dichotomous variables and t-tests for continuous variables. Cox proportional hazard models were conducted to investigate the medical utility of asthma after TCM use.
Results
Compared with non-TCM patients, TCM patients had a significantly decreased medical utility of asthma admission [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.63; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.46–0.85; P < 0.05], especially in patients who used TCM for >60 days. Asthma medical utility in asthma emergencies was significantly higher for male than for female patients (adjusted OR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.08–1.96). The most frequently used TCMs for asthma control or cough treatment were antitussive agents.
Conclusion
This population-based retrospective cohort study showed a significantly decreased medical utility of emergency visits and admissions in TCM patients, especially using TCM for >60 days.
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