Impact of Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution on Breast Cancer Incidence: A Case-Control and Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The term Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution denotes the unwavering of the body’s physical and psychological features. Unbalanced TCMCs generate vulnerability to diseases. This investigation examined the dissemination of the TCMCs of Chinese healthy women and those with breast cancer in Hong Kong to appraise the TCMC efficiency. Healthy woman (n=305) and women with BC (n=305) were recruited for this study to analyze the Physical Constitution Scale in TCM, thereby determining the types of TCMC. The sociodemographic data and connected BC risk factors were prepared using questionnaires. The association of unbalanced types of TCMC with BC was determined by multiple factor analysis. The percentage of unbalanced TCMC viz., Qi-depressed, Yin-deficiency, Blood stasis, Qi-deficiency, and Wetness-heat in BC patients was significantly greater than in healthy individuals (p<0.05). The analysis of stepwise logistic regression specified the constitution of Qi-depressed was positively correlated with BC (CI 1.49-6.92; OR=3.21). The correlation noteworthy enhanced when the Qi-depressed constitutions shared with Wetness-heat (CI 1.83-12.71; OR=4.82) or Blood-stasis (CI 1.31-8.16; OR=3.27). The grouping of both constitutions was connected to BC (CI 1.02-8.17; OR=2.88). The constitution of qi-depressed was an independent risk factor for BC. Similarly, the constitutions of Wetness-heat and Blood-stasis could also act as major functions in the incidence of BC when grouped with Qi-depressed. This outcome suggests that the unbalanced types of TCMC might be inconsistent in the individual with vulnerabilities to BC, proposing the possibility of Chinese constitutional analysis a potential strategy in detecting the vulnerable populace to BC and the corresponding inhibition of BC.