TCM body constitution study of patients with gout and its correlation with lifestyle habits

Abstract

Gout is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by persistently high levels of uric acid and articular deposits of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, causing acute pain during the flaring stage. Traditional Chinese Medicine body constitution (TCMBC) categorizes people based on TCM theory and reflects the overall wellbeing and state of health of individuals. Objective: Categorize the TCMBC of patients diagnosed with gout, determine the correlations between TCMBC of the patients with their corresponding lifestyle habits. A questionnaire was used to calculate the body constitution of 109 patients who were diagnosed with gout. Results: Balanced, qi deficient and yang deficient were the most common TCMBC; qi deficient for those who do not exercise regularly; damp heat constitution for those who smoke regularly. There is also a higher percentage of participants who prefers high purine diet with an unbalanced constitution, as compared to the group that did not adopt a high purine diet. This result suggests that lifestyle habits can influence the TCMBC of patients with gout.