Research Article
Characteristics of Herbal Medicine Users and Adverse Events Experienced in South Korea: A Survey Study
Table 4
Patterns of herbal medicine use and reasons for taking or not taking herbal medicines.
| Question
(number of respondents) | Response | (%) |
| | Have you taken herbal medicines in the past year? () | Yes | 693 (61.1) | | No | 441 (38.9) |
| | Location where herbal medicines were purchased () | TKM hospital or clinic | 441 (63.6) | | Pharmacy | 120 (17.0) | | Traditional herbal market | 118 (17.0) | | Health food store | 101 (14.6) | | Oriental pharmacy | 89 (12.8) | | Home shopping | 76 (11.0) | | Hypermarket | 76 (11.0) | | Other | 8 (1.1) |
| | Types of herbal medicines () | Decoction from a TKM institution | 500 (72.2) | | Crude herb (used for cuisine or tea) | 248 (35.8) | | Health food | 198 (28.6) | | National insurance-covered herbal medicines from TKM institutions | 106 (15.3) | | National insurance-covered herbal medicines from pharmacies | 104 (15.0) | | Other | 6 (0.8) |
| | Reasons for taking herbal medicines () | Health improvement | 397 (57.3) | | Treatment from a Korean medicine institution | 279 (40.3) | | Recommendation from acquaintance | 84 (12.1) | | Recommendation from pharmacist | 66 (9.5) | | Other | 6 (0.7) |
| | Reasons for not taking herbal medicines () | Medication not necessary | 281 (63.7) | | Uncertainty of origins | 156 (35.4) | | Expensive prices | 114 (25.9) | | Anxiety about possible harmful substances | 105 (23.8) | | Anxiety about possible adverse events | 59 (13.4) | | Disbelief regarding expiry date | 41 (9.3) | | No effectiveness | 39 (8.8) | | Other | 7 (1.6) |
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Multiple responses possible; TKM: traditional Korean medicine.
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