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Table1. Liver cancer patient characteristics during the period 1996-2007
Characteristic
TCM Nonusers TCM Users Adjusteda
OR 95% CI
Total % Total %
Patient no. 5118 1240
Age 59.65±12.30 57.95±11.46
<50 (reference) 1315 25.69 343 27.66 1.00
50s 1283 25.07 383 30.89 1.15 0.97-1.37
60s 1274 24.89 275 22.18 0.84 0.69-1.02
>=70s 1246 24.35 239 19.27 0.79 0.64-0.97
Gender
Female (reference) 1957 38.24 631 50.89 1.00
Male 3161 61.76 609 49.11 0.60 0.52-0.68
Insured amount (NT$/month)
<20,000 (reference) 3491 68.21 815 65.73 1.00
20,000-39,999 964 18.84 245 19.76 0.92 0.77-1.11
40,000-59,999 459 8.97 121 9.76 1.01 0.78-1.30
>=60,000 204 3.99 59 4.76 1.21 0.87-1.70
Urban Level
1 (reference) 1456 29.19 348 28.74 1.00
2 1461 29.29 358 29.56 0.91 0.75-1.10
3 708 14.19 187 15.44 0.91 0.71-1.15
4 817 16.38 201 16.6 0.85 0.66-1.08
>=5 546 10.95 117 9.67 0.80 0.58-1.08
Residential Area
Northern (reference) 667 13.03 149 12.02 1.00
Taipei 1923 37.57 383 30.89 0.75 0.58-0.96
Central 709 13.85 306 24.68 1.99 1.56-2.54
Southern 931 18.19 215 17.34 1.12 0.86-1.44
Eastern 89 1.74 28 2.26 1.40 0.83-2.36
Kao-Ping 783 15.3 153 12.34 0.91 0.69-1.18
Insured unit
Government, school
employees (reference) 530 10.93 158 13.4 1.00
Private enterprise
employees 1390 28.68 361 30.62 0.92 0.73-1.15
Member of occupational 960 19.81 271 22.99 0.99 0.77-1.27
Farmers, fishermen 1215 25.07 246 20.87 0.71 0.54-0.94
Low-income households
Veterans, other regional 752 15.51 143 12.13 0.80 0.60-1.07
TCM: traditional Chinese Medicine; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval.
a: Adjusted ORs were from the model considering age, gender, insured amount, residential area, and insured unit.
Table 2. Liver cancer outpatient service providers during the period 1996-2007 Outpatient visits specifically for liver
cancer Characteristic
Biomedicine TCM users P value for
Visits Percentage (95%CI) Visits Percentage (95%CI) 2
Type of providers <0.001
Public hospitals 75716 11.91 (11.83-11.99) 20455 8.98 (8.86-9.1)
Public Chinese medicine hospitals 34 0.01 (0.01-0.01) 636 0.28 (0.26-0.30)
Private hospitals 250469 39.40 (39.28-39.52) 70631 30.99 (30.80-31.18)
Private Chinese medicine hospitals 326 0.05 (0.04-0.06) 2754 1.21 (1.17-1.25)
Public clinics 20175 3.17 (3.13-3.21) 4253 1.87 (1.81-1.93)
Private clinics 252442 39.71 (39.59-39.83) 120067 52.69 (52.49-52.89)
Unknown 36543 5.75 (5.69-5.81) 9098 3.99 (3.91-4.07)
Total 635705 100 227894 100
TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; CI: confidence interval.
Table 3. Top 5 disease codes among liver cancer patients during the years 1996-2007 for all outpatient visits and outpatient visits specifically for liver cancer
Western Medicine Traditional Chinese Medicine
Ranking Disease (Code) No. Percentage
(95%CI) Disease (Code) No. Percentage (95%CI) Outpatient visits specifically for liver cancer
Total=1,181,130 Total=384,074
1 Chronic liver disease
and cirrhosis (571) 84,263
infections (465) 12,231 3.18 (3.12-3.24)
hypertension (401) 11,604 3.02 (2.97-3.07)
Ranking Disease (Code) No. Percentage
(95%CI) Disease (Code) No. Percentage (95%CI)
infections (465) 1,757,625 6.00 (5.99-6.01)
conjunctica (372) 1,642,787 1.89 (1.89-1.89)
Diabetes Mellitus
(250) 635,054 2.17
(2.16-2.18)
CI: confidence interval.
Table 4. Expenditures for outpatient services for liver cancer patients (NT$) during the period 1996-2007
Biomedicine (N=53999777) TCM (N=20253460) Biomedicine/
TCM Ratio
(95%CI) t value Total Average Medical expenses for all outpatient visits
Fees for consultation,
(429.71-429.75) 6,115,161,733.80 40.02 (40.02-40.02)
301.93
(301.90-301.96) 226.64* 3.79 1.42
Diagnosis fee 11,725,511,57822.13 (22.13-22.13)
Drug fee 18,043,485,48734.06
(34.06-34.06)
Total amount 52,974,321,235 100 981.01
(980.98-981.04) 15,278,805,154.80 100 754.38
(754.35-754.41) 365.10* 3.47 1.30
Biomedicine (N=635705) TCM (N=227894) Biomedicine/
TCM Ratio
(95%CI) t value Total Average Medical expenses for outpatient visits specifically for liver cancer
Fees for consultation,
Diagnosis fee 137,611,256 14.85 (14.85-14.85)
Drug fee 318,652,124 34.40
(34.40-34.40)
Total amount 926,416,372 100 1457.31
(1457.02-1457.60) 246,297,659 100 1080.76
(1080.33-1081.19) 40.99* 3.76 1.35
TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; *:p<0.001; CI: confidence interval.
Legend to Figure:
Figure 1 Proportion of traditional Chinese medicine use by liver cancer patients during the years 1996-2007
Legend to Additional file
Additional file 1 – Table1. Liver cancer patient Biomedicine and TCM services during the period 1996-2007