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Table 1 Demographic, socioeconomic and health related characteristics among western medical services and OTC medication users

From: Use of chinese and western over-the-counter medications in Hong Kong

  

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 dollars b (Standard Error)

 

$10042 ($148.64)

$8832

($221.47)

$10117

($121.21)

< 0.001

  1. a: All from Chi square test for independence except for mean personal monthly income, in which one way ANOVA were used
  2. b: HKD$ 7.8 = USD$ 1.0