RESEARCH ARTICLE Time Trend Analysis of the Prevalence and Incidence of Diagnosed Asthma and Traditional Chinese Medicine Use among

Background The aim of this study was to determine the annual trends of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) use for prevalent and incident asthmatic adults in Taiwan from 2000 to 2011. The annual prevalence and incidence of asthma in adults among subgroups of sociodemo-graphic factors were also investigated. Methods A population-based study was conducted using a random sample with one million beneficia-ries of all residents aged18 years enrolled in the National Health Insurance program. Adults diagnosed with asthma were identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The annual prevalence and incidence of asthma in the adult population were estimated by using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modifi-cation diagnostic codes to identify relevant cases from 2000 to 2011