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. 2011 Mar 1;104(6):927–933. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2011.47

Table 1. Characteristics of respondents, herbal medicine use by characteristic and predictors of herbal medicine use.

Characteristic Respondents (%) Herbal medicine users (%) Bivariate OR (95% CI); significancec Multivariate OR (95% CI); significance
Deprivation a
 Affluent 681 (60.3) 144 (21.1) 1.7 (1.1–2.7); 0.027 1.7 (1.0–2.7); 0.038
 More deprived 273 (24.2) 55 (20.1) 1.6 (0.9–2.6); 0.079 1.5 (0.9–2.6); 0.139
 Most deprived 176 (15.6) 24 (13.6) Reference Reference
         
Gender
 Female 821 (72.4) 183 (22.3) 1.9 (1.4–2.8); <0.0001 2.2 (1.1–4.5); 0.031
 Male 313 (27.6) 40 (12.8) Reference Reference
         
Age group
 <50 188 (16.6) 43 (22.9) 1.6 (1.0–2.5); 0.042 1.6 (1.0–2.6); 0.042
 50–59 244 (21.5) 61 (25.0) 1.8 (1.2–2.7); 0.006 1.8 (1.2–2.8); 0.008
 60–69 382 (33.7) 69 (18.1) 1.2 (0.8–1.8); 0.39 1.2 (0.8–1.8); 0.391
 70+ 320 (28.2) 50 (15.6) Reference Reference
         
Ethnic group
 White 1078 (95.1) 212 (19.7) 1.0 (0.5–1.9); 0.997 1.1 (0.5–2.2); 0.811
 Non-White 56 (4.9) 11 (19.6) Reference Reference
         
Cancer type b
 Oral and respiratory 42 (3.7) 3 (7.1) 0.3 (0.1–0.9); 0.027 0.5 (0.1–1.6); 0.228
 Digestive organs 160 (14.1) 26 (16.3) 0.7 (0.4–1.1); 0.078 1.1 (0.6–1.9); 0.743
 Other 23 (2.0) 4 (17.4) 0.7 (0.2–2.1); 0.55 1.0 (0.3–3.7); 0.956
 Thyroid and lymphoid 59 (5.2) 5 (8.5) 0.3 (0.1–0.8); 0.016 0.4 (0.2–1.1); 0.055
 Female genital 114 (10.1) 28 (24.6) 1.1 (0.7–1.8); 0.672 1.2 (0.8–1.9); 0.449
 Male genital 151 (13.3) 24 (15.9) 0.6 (0.4–1.0); 0.069 1.6 (0.7–3.7); 0.324
 Breast 585 (51.6) 133 (22.7) Reference Reference
         
Years since diagnosis
 <2 408 (36.0) 70 (17.2) 0.7 (0.5–0.9); 0.029 0.6 (0.4–0.9); 0.017
 2–4 460 (40.6) 89 (19.3) 0.7 (0.5–1.1); 0.134 0.7 (0.5–1.0); 0.057
 4+ 266 (23.5) 64 (24.1) Reference Reference
         
All respondents 1134 (100.0) 223 (19.7)    
Age and gender standardised prevalence   16.8%    

Abbreviation: OR=odds ratio.

a

Deprivation quartile could not be obtained for four respondents – OR calculated for 1130 respondents only.

b

Cancer types include the following: oral and respiratory – lip, oral cavity, head and neck, pharynx, lung and intrathoracic organs; digestive organs – oesophagus, stomach, colorectal, pancreas; thyroid and lymphoid – thyroid and other glands, lymphomas; female genital – uterus, ovaries, vulva; male genital – testicular, prostate; ‘other’ – primary bone cancer, soft tissue sarcomas, skin, urinary tract, eye, brain and central nervous system, unknown primary cancers.

c

Bold entries indicate statistically significant associations.