Table 1.
Demographic, socioeconomic and health related characteristics among western medical services and OTC medication users
| Visited western medicine practitioners only (%) | Used western OTC medications only (%) | Consulted western medicine practitioners and used western OTC medications (%) | P values a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | 38.2 | 12.5 | 49.3 | < 0.001 |
| Female | 39.6 | 9.9 | 50.5 | ||
| Age | 15-29 | 36.6 | 12.0 | 51.4 | |
| 30-39 | 34.3 | 11.8 | 53.9 | < 0.001 | |
| 40-49 | 33.8 | 13.0 | 53.2 | ||
| 50-59 | 37.5 | 12.3 | 50.2 | ||
| 60-69 | 45.4 | 8.8 | 45.8 | ||
| 70+ | 58.6 | 4.4 | 37.0 | ||
| Education level | Below primary | 54.1 | 5.7 | 40.2 | |
| Primary | 39.7 | 11.5 | 48.7 | < 0.001 | |
| Secondary | 34.9 | 12.6 | 52.5 | ||
| Tertiary | 43.6 | 8.4 | 48.1 | ||
| Currently married | Yes | 38.3 | 11.2 | 50.5 | |
| No | 40.0 | 11.0 | 49.0 | ||
| Self reported health | Excellent or very good | 40.7 | 11.4 | 47.9 | < 0.001 |
| Good or fair | 37.5 | 11.5 | 51.1 | ||
| poor | 51.7 | 7.0 | 41.3 | ||
| Self reported chronic disease status | Yes | 51.7 | 1.7 | 46.6 | |
| No | 35.3 | 13.8 | 50.9 | < 0.001 | |
| Drinking habit | Yes | 37.0 | 13.7 | 49.3 | |
| No | 39.2 | 10.8 | 50.1 | ||
| Current smoker | Yes | 33.9 | 16.2 | 49.9 | |
| No | 40.0 | 10.0 | 50.0 | < 0.001 | |
| Moderate exercise >=2.5 hours/week | Yes | 43.9 | 9.5 | 46.6 | |
| No | 37.1 | 11.7 | 51.2 | ||
| Possession of western medicine insurance | Yes | 38.2 | 7.5 | 54.3 | |
| No | 39.2 | 12.4 | 48.5 | < 0.001 | |
| Possession of Chinese medicine insurance | Yes | 36.4 | 7.1 | 56.5 | |
| No | 39.1 | 11.4 | 49.5 | < 0.001 | |
| Total | 38.9 | 11.1 | 50.0 | ||
| Mean personal monthly income in Hong Kong dollarsb (Standard Error) | $10042 ($148.64) | $8832 ($221.47) |
$10117 ($121.21) |
< 0.001 |
a: All from Chi square test for independence except for mean personal monthly income, in which one way ANOVA were used
b: HKD$ 7.8 = USD$ 1.0