Determinants of the concurrent use of biomedicine and Korean Medicine: A study based on the Korean Health Panel survey (2008-2014)

Introduction: This study was conducted to analyze the factors associated with the concurrent use of biomedicine and Korean Medicine (KM) in an outpatient medical service using data from the Korean Health Panel (KHP) 2008-2014. Method: Using the KHP, which is an ongoing longitudinal survey of a nationally representative Korean population, descriptive analysis was employed to present the frequency and percentage of concurrent use of biomedicine and KM with those who only used biomedicine. In addition, factors associated with the types of medical institutions receiving outpatient medical services were analyzed using the random effects panel probit model and the random effects panel logit model. Results: Analysis of the KHP data from 2008 to 2014 revealed that 16-18% of the population used both biomedicine and KM services concurrently. Moreover, concurrent users were more likely to be female, over 40 years old, have a lower confidence in healthcare services quality, have chronic disease, have used medication for more than three months and to have a high mean frequency of medical services use. Conclusion: Identifying determinants associated with concurrent use of biomedicine and KM might help medical professionals and policy makers to make wise judgments, plan treatments successfully and allocate resources efficiently.