Table 4.

Primary indications in ambulatory visits of Chinese and Western medicine under the National Health Insurance Program in Taiwan from 1997 to 2003

Primary indication (ICD-9-CM code)	Chinese medicine (n=1,341,286)	Western medicine (n=10,796,391)
1 Infectious and parasitic diseases	0.5*	2.3
2 Malignant neoplasms	0.2	0.7
3 Other neoplasms	0.1	0.7
4 Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and immunity disorders	1.3	3.8
5 Mental disorders	0.6	2.0
6 Diseases of the nervous system	1.6	1.3
7 Diseases of the sense organs	1.2	7.1
8 Diseases of the circulatory system	1.8	6.3
9 Diseases of the respiratory system	22.1	35.6
10 Diseases of the digestive system	11.4	7.2
11 Diseases of the genitourinary system	7.2	7.2
12 Complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium	0.1	0.4
13 Diseases of skin and subcutaneous tissue	3.1	6.2
14 Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue	18.1	7.5
15 Congenital anomalies	0.1	0.1
16 Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period	0.0	0.0
17 Signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions	14.2	3.7
18 Injury and poisoning	16.2	4.5
19 Accidents and self inflicted injury	0.0	0.1
20 Other reasons for contact with health services	0.2	3.3

*%.