Medical Care-seeking Patterns Among Women with Diagnoses Associated with Menstrual Syndromes: A Longitudinal Population-based Study

Background: This study aimed to explore women’s tendency to seek Traditional Chinese Medicine and/or Western Medicine when newly diagnosed with menstrual syndromes, and to identify factors associated with their medical care-seeking behavior. Methods: : Women aged 15 to 50 years with newly diagnosed menstrual syndromes were selected from Taiwan’s 2005 National Health Insurance Database. Follow-up was divided into 10 time-periods (1-6, 7-12, 13-18, 19-24, 25-30, 31-36, 37-42, 43-48, 49-54 and 55-60 months) after patients’ first visits for obstetric/gynecologic care. Patients’ tendency for medical care utilization was estimated using Poisson regression. Unadjusted and adjusted relative risks and their 95 % confidence intervals were calculated. Results: : The number of Traditional Chinese Medicine utilization was 0.69, and Western Medicine utilization was 1.75 within six months after the first menstrual syndrome diagnosis. The tendency for Traditional Chinese Medicine utilization increased as follow-up time increased after controlling for potential confounders, while Western medicine utilization decreased gradually as follow-up time increased. Women’s age, economic status, infertility, value of prevention, baby delivery and Obstetric/ Gynecologic inpatient histories were significantly associated with their medical care-seeking behavior. Conclusions: : Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine medical care-seeking patterns are significantly different among women with diagnoses associated with menstrual syndromes. Related factors affecting Medical care-seeking behavior have been explored in this study.