Current status of Oriental medicine in treating Korean allergy patients.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence, compliance, pattern of use, and economic cost of OM in Korean allergy patients.


METHODS
A total of 647 allergy patients were enrolled from 10 general hospitals, and were surveyed by the questionnaire. It consisted of 12 items and regarded the prescription rates, reasons for referring, their opinions for the efficacy of OM, and economic costs.


RESULTS
A total of 259 (40.5%) patients had used OM, and 35.5% of these patients experienced two or more kinds of these practices. A patients' income or education level did not affect the prescription rates of OM. Of the patients that used OM, 34.6% of them were satisfied with the effect of OM treatment, and 40.9% of them were inclined to continue with their OM treatments. The most frequent reasons for choosing OM were the patient's belief that OM can predispose 'allergic constitution to normal' (30.2%), worries about the possible adverse reactions of the long-term administration of the proven drugs (20.2%), and the safety of OM (15.6%). However, 18.9% of these patients experienced perceived adverse events to their OM treatment such as skin rashes, gastrointestinal discomfort, and hepatitis. The patients that have used OM spent on average $915 US dollars annually for OM treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Many Korean allergy patients are cliental to OM. Some patients experienced a satisfactory treatment effect from OM, however, others had no treatment effect, even adverse event. Therefore, it is important to educate people to use OM appropriately to make harmony with modern medicine.
Shin
Yoo Seob
YS
Severance Regional Pharmacovigilance Center, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
Park
Jung-Won
JW
Lee
Yong-Won
YW
Kim
Cheol-Woo
CW
Dhong
Hun-Jong
HJ
Park
Hae-Sim
HS
Cho
Young-Joo
YJ
Cho
Sang-Heon
SH
Pyun
Bok Yang
BY
Lee
Kwang Hoon
KH
Lee
Hae Ran
HR
Hong
Chein-Soo
CS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult