Predicting type 2 diabetes using Sasang constitutional medicine.

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Genetics and Genomics
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM) categorizes individuals into four types: So-Eum (SE), So-Yang (SY), Tae-Eum (TE), and Tae-Yang (TY).
• Accurate Sasang constitution type (SCT) evaluation is crucial for its integration into mainstream medical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between Sasang constitution types and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
• To determine if the Tae-Eum (TE) type poses an independent risk for type 2 diabetes, irrespective of obesity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Ansung-Ansan prospective cohort study (10,038 participants, 2001-2002).
• Evaluated Sasang constitution type (SCT) in 2,460 participants.
• Employed Cox proportional hazard models to analyze diabetes risk over a 10-year follow-up period.

Main Results:

• Identified 472 cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus over 22,007 person-years.
• The TE group exhibited significantly higher age, obesity, blood pressure, glucose, and lipid profiles compared to the SE type.
• Tae-Eum (TE) individuals showed a 1.696-fold increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared to the SE type (P=0.003).
• This elevated risk for type 2 diabetes in the TE group remained significant even after controlling for confounders, including obesity.

Conclusions:

• The Tae-Eum (TE) constitutional type is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
• The association between the TE type and type 2 diabetes risk is independent of obesity levels.
• Findings support the clinical relevance of SCT in predicting diabetes risk.