The Association Between Traditional Chinese Medicine Body Constitution Deviation and Essential Hypertension: A...

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Cardiovascular Health

Background:

• Hypertension prevention and treatment are global health priorities.
• The World Health Organization supports integrating traditional medicine with conventional treatments.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) posits disease arises from constitutional imbalances, with some studies linking hypertension to specific TCM constitutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) body constitution deviations and essential hypertension.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study involving 210 hypertension and 210 non-hypertension cases from southern Taiwan.
• Data collected via blood pressure measurements, TCM Body Constitution Questionnaire, and demographic/hypertension-related factors questionnaires.

Main Results:

• The hypertension group showed a higher proportion of body constitution deviations compared to the non-hypertension group.
• Significant differences were observed in body mass index, emotional traits, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, Yin-Xu, and stasis constitutions between groups.
• Multivariate analysis identified Yin-Xu constitution as a risk factor for essential hypertension after adjusting for covariates.

Conclusions:

• Yin-Xu and stasis constitutions are associated with essential hypertension.
• Findings support integrating TCM constitution screening into hypertension prevention strategies.
• Healthcare professionals can use these insights to develop targeted prevention plans for essential hypertension.