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.