OBJECTIVES:

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of the most common chronic gastrointestinal disorders that significantly reduce the quality of life. Korean medicine treatment including herbal medicine and acupuncture has been frequently used for the treatment of FD in the clinical setting of East Asian traditional medicine. The purpose of this study was to analyze factors affecting Korean medicine health care (KMHC) use of FD.

METHODS:

Data from Korea Health Panel Survey 2017, nationally representative real world data, were analyzed. The subjects who were diagnosed with FD and used outpatient care among those aged 19 years or older were included, and eventually, total 404 subjects were included in the analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association of predisposing, enabling, and need factors with KMHC use of FD based on Andersen’s behavioral model. The best subsets of factors affecting KMHC use of FD were selected using stepwise procedure.

RESULTS:

In fully adjusted analysis including predisposing, enabling, and need factors, there was a significant negative association of age (65 years or older, OR, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.02-0.93) with KMHC use of FD, while there were significant positive associations of region (Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, or Gyeongsang, OR, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.02-5.88) and private health insurance (privately insured, OR, 3.41; 95% CI, 1.02-11.42) with KMHC use of FD. In the prediction model of KMHC use of FD, sex, age, private health insurance, and stress were selected as the best subset of predisposing, enabling, and need factors (AUC, 0.709; 95% CI, 0.637-0.781).

CONCLUSIONS:

This is the first study to identify factors affecting the use of KMHC use in FD patients, and sex, age, private health insurance, and stress were obtained as predictive factors. The results of this study will aid in the decision-making of clinicians, researchers, and policymakers.