氣喘患者就醫行為與氣象因子相關研究──以中醫門診病人數占率為例

Correlation between healthcare seeking behavior of asthma patients and meteorological factors–proportion of asthma patients in TCM clinic

目的：暸解氣象因子對氣喘患者就醫行為之影響。
方法：以某醫院中醫部2014至2016年門診資料庫中各月份氣喘就醫病人數占率及所在地平均溫度、溫差、雨量、相對濕度、降水日數、日照時數等氣象
因子進行皮爾森相關及多元逐步迴歸分析。
結果：相對濕度與氣喘病人數占率呈現顯著正相關（r = 0.448，p < 0.01），當該月平均相對濕度越高，以氣喘為診斷至該部門就診的人數越多。在逐步迴歸分析中，僅相對濕度進入迴歸模式，對氣喘病人數占率的可解釋變量為20.1%。
建議：根據本研究結果，相對濕度越高，門診中因氣喘疾病就醫的比例越增加，若能在氣象變化尤其是相對濕度增高時，提前示警氣喘患者注意身體狀況及環境除濕，可作為氣喘患者健康促進與預防保健的方案之一。

Purpose: To investigate the effect of meteorological factors on the healthcare seeking behavior of asthma patients.
Methods: Pearson correlation and multiple stepwise regression were conducted based on the proportion of asthma patients in outpatient clinics from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) department of a regional hospital from 2014 to 2016 and meteorological factors such as average temperature, temperature difference, rainfall, relative humidity, precipitation days, sunshine hours.
Results: There was a significant positive correlation between the proportion of asthma patients in TCM clinic and relative humidity (r = 0.448，p < 0.01), which means the number of patients who visited TCM clinic with asthma as a major diagnosis was increased when the average of relative humidity was higher. In stepwise regression, only relative humidity entered the regression mode and the R2 was 20.1%.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the higher the relative humidity was, the greater the proportion of asthma patients in outpatient clinics of TCM. If it is possible to warn asthma patients of paying attention to their physical condition and dehumidifying surrounding environment prior to increased humidity, it may be used as a health promotion program to prevent patients from asthma attacks.