Decreased fracture incidence with traditional Chinese medicine therapy in patients with osteoporosis: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Table 1 Characteristics of osteoporosis patients according to use of traditional Chinese medicine

Variable	TCM
	No (N = 804)		Yes (N = 804)		p-value
	n	%	n	%
Gender					0.99*
Female	615	76.49	615	76.49
Male	189	23.51	189	23.51
Age group, year					0.99*
< 65	386	48.01	386	48.01
≥ 65	418	51.99	418	51.99
Mean (SD)	64.57 (11.08)		64.48 (11.08)		0.8813^a
Urbanization level^†					0.0104*
1 (highest)	207	25.75	240	29.85
2	238	29.6	226	28.11
3	106	13.18	134	16.67
4 (lowest)	253	31.47	204	25.37
Baseline comorbidity
Alcohol-related disease	4	0.5	1	0.12	0.3742^b
Cancer	45	5.6	22	2.74	0.0041*
Cardiovascular disease	307	38.18	305	37.94	0.9182*
Chronic kidney disease	25	3.11	25	3.11	0.99*
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	188	23.38	241	29.98	0.0028*
Diabetes mellitus	212	26.37	185	23.01	0.1184*
Dementia	19	2.36	12	1.49	0.2043*
Depression	44	5.47	54	6.72	0.2972*
Hyperlipidemia	168	20.9	218	27.11	0.0035*
Hypertension	447	55.6	416	51.74	0.1211*
Parkinson’s disease	8	1	11	1.37	0.4887*
Interval between diagnosis and initial TCM use, mean (days)			611
Follow-up time, mean (median; years)	3.75 (2.86)		5.38 (5.18)

*Chi-Square Test, ^a t-test, ^bFisher’s exact test
^†: The urbanization level was categorized into four levels based on the population density of the residential area, with level 1 as the most urbanized and level 4 as the least urbanized
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) included Chinese herbal remedies, acupuncture, and manipulative

ISSN: 2662-7671