Association of traditional medicine body constitution types with five chronic diseases in Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

Objectives: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners use body constitution (BC) in their daily clinical practice. The BC is innate, shaped by the environment, and highly dependent on the intrinsic properties of the human body. The Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) is the most frequently used diagnostic tool for physiological BC types. This study aimed to determine the proportion of nine TCM constitution types and comorbidities observed in the Ho Chi Minh City community. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied to collect data for this study. All the participants were classified as BC types by the CCMQ. Results: There were 2127 participants aged from 18 to 90 years old (35.3% were male and 64.7% were female) enrolled in this study. Five comorbidities were observed including hypertension (33.7%), cardiovascular diseases (21.8%), diabetes (19.8%), hyperlipidemia (17.3%) and obesity (13.4%). In participants, the Balanced type was the most common (53.1%). The order of decreasing proportions of the unbalanced types was as follows: Qi-deficiency (20.0%), Qi-depression (15.7%), Blood-stasis (13.0%), Yang-deficiency (10.0%), Phlegm-dampness (9.1%), Yin-deficiency (8.7%), Inherited-special (7.6%), Dampness-heat (7.2%). Hypertension was strongly associated with most of types (except Dampness-heat), Diabetes mellitus was associated with only Qi-deficiency. Obesity had associations with Phlegm-dampness, Dampness-heat, and Blood-stasis. Factors such as gender, age and occupation can cause different BC development. Conclusions: Among the participants in Ho Chi Minh City, hypertension (33.7%) is the most common comorbidity. Balanced (53.1%) is the majority in BC types. The associations between BC types and ages, genders, jobs, five chronic diseases were different.

Keywords

• Community
• Body constitution
• Traditional medicine