Presentation summary

In 2017, approximately 25.4% of the Korean population utilized Korean medicine services, and expenditureson Korean medicine accounted for about 4% of the nation’s total healthcare costs.

This study aims to examinethe treatment purposes of individuals seeking Korean medicine and the reasons for choosing it accordingly.
Data were obtained from the Korean Medicine Utilization Survey, administered by the National Institute for Korean Medicine Development.

For the present study, we used the 2017, 2020, and 2022 survey waves, whichare publicly available for research purposes.
The number of respondents was 1,010 in 2017, 1,092 in 2020, and 1,060 in 2022. Among treatment purposes,the proportion of “disease treatment” decreased gradually from 90.5% in 2017 to 85.0% in 2020 and 82.9% in2022.

Conversely, “health promotion” increased from 5.7% to 11.3% and 14.7%, respectively. The proportion ofthose seeking care for “beauty/weight loss” declined from 2.6% in 2017 to 1.9% in 2020, then rose again to 4.0% in 2022.

Analysis of the 2022 data revealed that, among those with the treatment purpose of “disease treatment,” themost common reason for choosing Korean medicine was “good treatment effectiveness” (66.3%), followed by “specialized care for specific conditions” (8.1%). For those seeking “health promotion,” “good treatment effectiveness” accounted for 48.7%, while both “fewer side effects” and “famous or recommended byacquaintances” were cited by 11.5% of respondents. Among those seeking care for “beauty/weight loss,” theleading reason was also “good treatment effectiveness” (35.7%), although this proportion was lower than inother groups ; “fewer side effects” was the second most common reason (23.8%).

As the priority reasons for choosing Korean medicine differ according to treatment purpose, it is necessary to develop treatment approaches and strengthen evidence tailored to these varying motivations.