Table 2.
Nutritional supplements purchasing behavior analysis.
| Variables | All Subjects, n = 8752 |
Medical Students n = 4252 (48.6) |
Non-Medical Students n = 4500 (51.4) |
p-Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Have you consumed any nutritional supplements in the past year? | ||||
| Yes | 2102 (24.2) | 1179 (27.8) | 923 (20.7) | <0.001 |
| No | 6600 (75.8) | 3068 (72.2) | 3532 (79.3) | |
| Which type of nutritional supplements have purchased the most in the past year? | ||||
| Health food | 939 (45.6) | 575 (48.3) | 364 (41.8) | 0.001 |
| Over the counter (OTC) | 485 (23.5) | 283 (23.8) | 202 (23.2) | |
| Products from foreign countries | 229 (11.1) | 128 (10.8) | 101 (11.6) | |
| Other | 143 (6.9) | 80 (6.7) | 63 (7.2) | |
| Not clear | 265 (12.9) | 124 (10.4) | 141 (16.2) | |
| Where do you buy nutritional supplements? | ||||
| Drugstore | 1113 (55.2) | 641 (55.0) | 472 (55.4) | 0.159 |
| Hospital | 185 (9.2) | 119 (10.2) | 66 (7.7) | |
| Internet | 317 (15.7) | 180 (15.5) | 137 (16.1) | |
| Direct selling | 131 (6.5) | 78 (6.7) | 53 (6.2) | |
| Overseas | 129 (6.4) | 77 (6.6) | 52 (6.1) | |
| Other | 142 (7.0) | 70 (6.0) | 72 (8.5) | |
| What was the main reason for your first purchase? | ||||
| Doctor’s suggestion | 605 (30.2) | 378 (32.7) | 227 (26.7) | <0.001 |
| Friends’ suggestion | 515 (25.7) | 287 (24.8) | 228 (26.8) | |
| Reference, related books | 293 (14.6) | 203 (17.6) | 90 (10.6) | |
| Advertisements | 90 (4.5) | 40 (3.5) | 50 (5.9) | |
| Direct selling | 49 (2.4) | 29 (2.5) | 20 (2.4) | |
| Seller’s suggestion | 62 (3.1) | 25 (2.2) | 37 (4.3) | |
| Other | 392 (19.5) | 193 (16.7) | 199 (23.4) | |
| How much do you spend on supplements per year? Yuan (RMB) | ||||
| >10,000 | 59 (2.9) | 15 (1.3) | 44 (5.1) | <0.001 |
| 5000–9999 | 60 (3.0) | 21 (1.8) | 39 (4.5) | |
| 1000–4999 | 189 (9.3) | 106 (9.1) | 83 (9.6) | |
| <1000 | 1716 (84.8) | 1019 (87.8) | 697 (80.8) | |
mean ± standard deviation; frequency (percentage). Chi-squared test.