Opinions on Kampo and reasons for using it – results from a cross-sectional survey in three Japanese clinics

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Kenji Watanabe¹  Takashi Seki²  Lydia Hottenbacher³  Thorolf ER Weißhuhn³  Julia Ostermann³  Claudia M Witt⁴ 

[1] Center for Kampo Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinano-machi, 160-8582, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan;Department of Geriatric Behavioral Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, 980-8575, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan;Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, D-10098, Berlin, Germany;Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medical Center, D-10098, Berlin, Germany;University of Maryland School of Medicine, Center for Integrative Medicine, Baltimore, USA;

关键词: Kampo;    Survey;    Patient opinions;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-13-108

 received in 2011-12-04, accepted in 2013-05-09,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTraditional Japanese Medicine (Kampo) is often used in Japan, but very little data on its users are available. We investigated who uses Kampo, the reasons and opinions for its use.MethodsQuestionnaire survey in three Japanese outpatient clinics offering Kampo in different settings: Kampo only, Kampo and traditional Chinese medicine, Kampo and Western medicine. Before seeing the doctor, patients were asked about socio-demographic data, medical history, experience with Kampo, general health-related opinions and behaviours, opinions about Western medicine and Kampo, and reasons for Kampo utilization. Descriptive statistics and predictors for Kampo use were calculated.ResultsA total of 354 questionnaires were completed. Participants were 50.97 ± 15.60 (mean ± SD) years of age, 68% were female. Of all patients, 73% (n = 202) were using Kampo currently and 84% (297) had taken Kampo before. Questions on general health-related opinions and behaviour revealed a strong environmental awareness. The most frequent indications for earlier Kampo use were: common cold (36%), gastrointestinal complaints (30%), oversensitivity to cold (“Hi’e-sho”; 29%), stress/anxiety (21%), and shoulder stiffness (20%). Kampo users suffered more often from chronic illnesses (OR 2.88 [1.48-5.58]). Beliefs in underlying philosophy (Wu Xing (adjusted OR 3.08, [1.11-8.55]), Ying and Yang (OR 2.57 [1.15-5.73], a holistic way of seeing the patient (OR 2.17 [1.53-3.08]), and in Kampo efficacy (OR 2.62 [1.66-4.13]) were positively associated with Kampo use. So was, interestingly, conviction of the efficacy of Western medicine (OR 1.87 [1.28-2.74]). Half of the patients had a general preference for a combination of Kampo and Western treatment.ConclusionsMost patients visiting a clinic that also provided Kampo had previous experience with Kampo. Usage was associated with beliefs in philosophical Kampo concepts and its efficacy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Hottenbacher et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.