The characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine constitutions of adult females in Hong Kong and the effect on the occurrence of breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common life-threatening cancers in females worldwide. Although Western medicine has made great progress in the treatment of breast cancer, it so far still does not provide a medical “cure” for breast cancer. Limitations of current treatment options include severe side effects, recurrence and metastasis. As a result, discovering its potential risk factors and developing effective prevention have become quite urgent. To date, many risk factors of breast cancer have been found, but modern medicine still does not offer an effective prevention. It is therefore significant to use any useful means to explore all possible causes of breast cancer and then develop alternative prevention for breast cancer.

Traditional Chinese Medicine constitution (TCMC) refers to the relatively stable physical and physiological characteristics of the human body. The formation of individual constitution is based on congenital property and is also influenced by various acquired factors. According to TCM philosophy, constitution represents individual susceptibility to certain pathogens/diseases. It could be divided into balanced and unbalanced types, and those unbalanced types have been widely reported to be correlated to diseases.

A cross-sectional and case-control design was adopted to investigate the efficacy of unbalanced constitutional types as potential precipitating factors for the occurrence of breast cancer. Three hundred and five healthy women and 305 breast cancer patients were involved in this study. Their TCMC characteristics and exposure to the risk factors of breast cancer were investigated. Multiple factor analysis was utilized to explore the association of different TCMC patterns with breast cancer. The results indicated that Qi-depressed constitution could act as an independent risk factor for developing breast cancer, Wetness-heat constitution and Blood-stasis constitution may also play the role in the occurrence of breast cancer. The finding suggests the possibility of Chinese medicine constitution assessment could act as a potential approach in identifying the susceptible population to breast cancer and developing effective preventions for this type of cancer.

The characteristics of TCMCs of adult Chinese women in Hong Kong and their influencing factors were also investigated. The TCMC types of 944 participants and the potential related factor were investigated. The results showed that the majority of participants were diagnosed with unbalanced and complex TCMCs, Qi-deficiency, Phlegm-wetness and Yang-deficiency constitutions were the most common TCMC types. Stepwise logistic analysis indicated that poor systemic health condition, less-than-satisfactory emotional life, overweight and mental work might be contributors for the formation of unbalanced TCMCs, while regular physical exercise was found to be a protective factor for unbalanced TCMCs. This finding enriches the knowledge of the influencing factors of TCMCs, and also provides the basis for the prevention of breast cancer through improving unbalanced TCMC.