Use frequency of traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan

Table 10 Number and percentage distribution of visits to Western Medicine by major disease category from 1996–2001 in Taiwan.

Major disease category	ICD-9-CM code range	Visits	%
Diseases of the respiratory system	460–519	1,347,671	45.9%
Diseases of the digestive system	520–579	324,820	11.1%
Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs	320–389	297,257	10.1%
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue	710–739	251,625	8.6%
Diseases of the circulatory system	390–459	228,051	7.8%
Diseases of the genitourinary system	580–629	210,842	7.2%
Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue	680–709	198,619	6.8%
Symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions	780–799	148,989	5.1%
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and immunological disorders	240–279	138,771	4.7%
Injury and poisoning	800–999	97,843	3.3%
Total visits		2,935,480	100.0%

Data were obtained by 1:500 sampling from National Health Insurance files in Taiwan (see text for detail). All diagnoses at each claim were taken into consideration.

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