Body Constitution and Unhealthy Lifestyles in a Primary Care Population at High Cardiovascular Risk: New Insights for Health Management

Abstract

Yi Wang,1,* Xiao-Ya Wu,2,* Harry HX Wang,1,3 Yu-Ting Li,4 Yu Fu,1,5 Jia-Ji Wang,6,7 Jose Hernandez,8,9 Martin CS Wong3,10,11 1School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Shipai Community Health Centre, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; 4State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; 6Guangdong-Provincial Primary Healthcare Association, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 7School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 8Faculty of Medicine and Health, EDU, Digital Education Holdings Ltd., Kalkara, Malta; 9Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 10School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 11School of Public Health, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Harry HX WangSchool of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 74 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]; [email protected]: Adherence to lifestyle recommendations remains insufficient in cardiovascular (CV) health management globally. Body constitution, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, is primarily influenced by an individual’s internal metabolism and susceptibility to external pathogenic factors. Nevertheless, less is known about whether body constitutions may play a role in the presence of unhealthy lifestyles. We aimed to explore the associations between body constitutions and unhealthy lifestyles among Chinese individuals at high CV risk.Methods: Computerised data were retrieved from a primary care population-based health record for all 1739 eligible individuals at high CV risk who attended routine check-up in an urbanised, medium-size district in Guangzhou, China. Unhealthy lifestyles were determined in accordance with guideline recommendations. The body constitution was assessed on the basis of physical signs, personality, body symptoms, and the susceptibility to environmental changes, following nationally standard procedure. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed using marginal standardisation method.Results: The participants ranged in age from 20 to 96 years, with a mean age of 69.55 years. There were slightly more females than males (52.3% vs 47.7%). Current smoking, regular drinking, and physical inactivity were most common. Participants with a body constitution of phlegm-and-dampness type (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=1.999, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.003– 3.984; p=0.049) tended to be current smokers, and those assessed with special diathesis type (aOR=2.166, 95% CI=1.029– 4.559; p=0.042) had a higher likelihood of being regular drinkers. Having a body constitution type of blood stasis (aOR=1.375, 95% CI=1.029– 1.838; p=0.031) or qi deficient (aOR=1.711, 95% CI=1.080– 2.709; p=0.022) was associated with physical inactivity.Conclusion: Our findings add to current evidence suggesting that an individual’s body constitution is closely related to the presence of unhealthy lifestyles. This offers new insights for health management through body constitution-based strategies to target those at high CV risk who need tailor-made attention in lifestyle modifications during routine primary care.Keywords: body constitution, unhealthy lifestyles, association, primary care, cardiovascular health management

Keywords

• body constitution
• unhealthy lifestyles
• association
• primary care
• cardiovascular health management