Traditional Chinese Medicine Enhances Survival in Patients with Gastric Cancer after Surgery and Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Taiwan: A Nationwide Matched Cohort Study
Table 1
Baseline patient characteristics of TCM users and nonusers.
Variables
TCM user (N = 1701)
Non-TCM user (N = 5103)
P value1
n
%
n
%
Sex
0.2554
Female
722
42.5
2086
40.9
Male
979
57.6
3017
59.1
Age at surgery, years
0.5590
18–64
1020
60.0
3019
59.2
≥65
681
40.0
2084
40.8
Mean (SD)
59.8 (12.2)
59.7 (13.5)
0.6760
Urbanization
0.9494
Very high
499
29.3
1467
28.8
High
790
46.4
2411
47.3
Moderate
286
16.8
852
16.7
Low
126
7.4
373
7.3
Income level (NTD2/per month)
0.9925
0
265
15.6
782
15.3
1–15840
268
15.8
812
15.9
15841–25000
779
45.8
2348
46.0
≥25001
389
22.9
1161
22.8
Comorbidities
Diabetes mellitus
275
16.2
817
16.0
0.8788
Hypertension
554
32.6
1669
32.7
0.9168
Alcoholism
24
1.4
64
1.3
0.6202
Smoking-related disorder
154
9.1
454
8.9
0.8444
Chronic renal failure
33
1.9
100
2.0
0.9597
Liver cirrhosis
37
2.2
99
1.9
0.5484
Chemotherapy regimen
0.8593
Group 1 (epirubicin-based)
169
9.9
474
9.3
Group 2 (mitomycin-based)
260
15.3
767
15.0
Group 3 (taxanes)
20
1.2
60
1.2
Group 4 (others)
1252
73.6
3802
74.5
Death
849
3490
1Pearson’s chi-square test for categorical variables and t-test for continuous variables.21US $ = 32.3 New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) in year 2008.
