Age and gender effect on the use of herbal medicine products and food supplements among the elderly

Figures & data

Table I.  Distribution of herbal medicine products and/or food supplements used, according to gender and age group.

	Herbal medicine products		Food supplements		Herbal medicine products and/or food supplements
(n = 1380)	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)
Gender
Male (n = 576)	97	(16.8)	52	(9.0)	128	(22.2)
Female (n = 804)	167	(20.7)	132	(16.4)	254	(31.6)
p*	0.067 n.s.		0.000		0.000
Age group (years)
60–69	91	(23.2)	45	(11.5)	118	(30.1)
70–79	71	(20.8)	45	(13.2)	100	(29.4)
80–89	93	(17.7)	82	(15.6)	146	(27.9)
≥90	9	(7.3)	12	(9.7)	18	(14.5)

*Pearson chi-square.

Figure 1.  Distribution of herbal medicine products used among users according to indication group.

Table II.  Binary logistic regression predicting independent factors correlated with intake of herbal medicine products and/or food supplements.

Factor	Odds ratio	Confidence interval	p-value
Taking herbal medicine
Sex	1.382	1.045–1.828	0.023
Age*
70–79 years	0.862	0.606–1.225	0.407 n.s.
80–89 years	0.694	0.501–0.962	0.028
≥ 90 years	0.253	0.118–0.500	0.000
Taking food supplements
Sex	1.988	1.412–2.800	0.000
Age*
70–79 years	1.148	0.737–1.790	0.542 n.s.
80–89 years	1.362	0.920–2.017	0.123 n.s.
≥ 90 years	0.734	0.373–1.443	0.370 n.s.
Taking herbal medicine and/or food supplements
Sex	1.699	1.325–2.179	0.000
Age*
70–79 years	0.947	0.688–1.305	0.740 n.s.
80–89 years	0.858	0.641–1.148	0.303 n.s.
≥ 90 years	0.356	0.205–0.615	0.000

*The three age groups were compared with age group 60–69 years.