Objective To investigate the incidence of chronic diseases and the utilization rate of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)among the elderly in communities,and to provide suggestions for improving the quality of TCM services for elderly patients with chronic diseases.Methods A stratified cluster sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey among the elderly population in Hangzhou,Taizhou,and Lishui,Zhejiang Province,to understand the utilization of TCM services by elderly patients with chronic diseases.Binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors affecting the utilization rate of TCM services.Results A total of 2109 valid questionnaires were collected.The survey showed that the prevalence rate of chronic diseases in the elderly population was 63.92％.Among these,hypertension had the highest prevalence rate at 45.66％,followed by diabetes with a prevalence rate of 15.65％.The utilization rate of TCM services among elderly patients with chronic diseases was 40.73％.The utilization rate of TCM services by elderly patients with one chronic disease was 39.86％(340/853),for those with two chronic diseases it was 41.15％(158/384),and for those with three or more chronic diseases it was 45.95％(51/111).The utilization rate of TCM services by elderly patients with chronic diseases was 1.390 times that of non-chronic disease patients(95％CI:1.149～1.682).However,there was no statistically significant difference in the utilization rate of TCM services between elderly patients with multiple chronic diseases and those with only one chronic disease(P>0.05).Conclusion The presence of chronic diseases increases the utilization of TCM services among the elderly population in communities in Zhejiang Province,but the number of chronic diseases has no significant effect on the utilization rate of TCM services.
ElderlyTraditional Chinese medicine(TCM)Chronic diseasesAndersen's behavioral model of health services
万方数据
维普
