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Published on: July 5, 2024
A Meta-analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine constitution distribution in people with functional constipation
Wang Xuehui1, Sun Yuxin1, Birling Yoann2
1Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine,Beijing University of Chinese Medicine,Beijing100029,China.
Objective:
To investigate the distribution of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitution among individuals with functional constipation, which would provide insights for developing constitution-targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
Methods:
A systematic search was conducted across eight databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Database, China Science and Technology Journal for Chinese Technical Periodicals, SinoMed, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) to identify relevant observational studies assessing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitution types among people with functional constipation. The protocol for this review has been registered on International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (registration number: CRD42022345996).
Results:
A total of sixteen cross-sectional studies involving 2976 participants were included in this review. Among functional constipation patients, the proportions of Yin-deficiency, Yang-deficiency, and Qi-deficiency constitution were 27.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 19.9% to 36.7%], 25.2% (95% CI 17.5% to 35.0%) and 23.7% (95% CI 15.8% to 34.0%), respectively. Besides, females accounted for a higher percentage of the population with functional constipation in the included studies, and most patients were aged 45 years or older. These findings may reflect the demographic characteristics of the general functional constipation population, where older adults and women are more commonly affected. The impact of gender and age on TCM constitution distribution merits further exploration.
Conclusion:
Our finding revealed that Yin-deficiency, Yang-deficiency, and Qi-deficiency are the predominant TCM constitution types in people with functional constipation. This study suggests that clinicians should focus on patients with these TCM constitution types in the prevention and management of functional constipation. Larger sample sizes and more rigorous methodological designs are needed in future studies. Furthermore, future researches should also focus on developing individualized prevention and treatment strategies based on different TCM constitution types.
