외래환자에 대한 첩약 병용치료 인지된 효과 분석 - 2020년 한방의료이용 실태조사를 활용하여

Abstract

Objectives : This study aimed to empirically analyze the perceived treatment effects of Korean medicine (KM) outpatient care according to the use of herbal decoctions, using data from the 2020 Korean Medicine Utilization and Herbal Medicine Consumption Survey. Methods : Among outpatient cases, those who received herbal decoction prescriptions were classified as the “Korean Medicine treatment group with Herbal Decoction use (CHDKM),” and those who did not as the “Korean Medicine treatment group without Herbal Decoction use (NHDKM).” Six high-frequency disease groups (musculoskeletal, external/traumatic, circulatory/hypertension, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and post-traffic accident syndrome) were selected for analysis. Perceived treatment effects were measured on a 4-point Likert scale. Chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact tests were used to examine differences in treatment perception between CHDKM and NHDKM groups by disease group. To support the main findings, a General Linear Model (GLM) analysis was performed, and an ANCOVA was additionally conducted for the hypertension subgroup. Results : Significant differences in perceived treatment effects were observed between CHDKM and NHDKM groups in the circulatory/hypertension (CIR/HTN) and respiratory (RES) disease categories. In the CIR/HTN group, 93.1% of CHDKM participants reported the highest treatment effect (score 4), compared to 61.5% of NHDKM participants who mostly reported a moderate effect (score 3) (p ＜.001). In the RES group, 70.3% of CHDKM participants reported score of perception 4, compared to 36.8% of NHDKM participants (p = .015). Overall, CHDKM participants were more likely to report a score of 4 (63.1%) than those in the NHDKM group (52.9%) (p ＜.001).