Poor Quality of Life in HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex with Men is Associated with Excess-Type Constitution of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Li-Lan Liao; Chien-Chun Wang; Chien-Lung Wu; Yi-Shun Chu; Yi-Chang Chou; Chung-Hua Hsu

doi:10.1155/2023/9445111

Poor Quality of Life in HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex with Men is Associated with Excess-Type Constitution of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2023 Jan 16:2023:9445111. doi: 10.1155/2023/9445111. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Li-Lan Liao^{1

2}, Chien-Chun Wang³, Chien-Lung Wu², Yi-Shun Chu¹, Yi-Chang Chou^{4

5}, Chung-Hua Hsu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Linsen Chinese Medicine and Kunming Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Infection, Taipei City Hospital, Linsen Chinese Medicine and Kunming Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Institute of Public Health, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Introduction: This study explored the pathological constitution as it relates to low quality of life in HIV-infected MSM patients, as a reference for clinical treatment.

Methods: It had a cross-sectional research design using structured questionnaires to collect data, including patient's basic data, CD4⁺, CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio, Wang Qi constitution, and WHOQOL-BREF-Taiwan version questionnaires. We considered the association between constitutions and quality of life of HIV-infected MSM patients. Results and Discussion. The project accepted 203 HIV-infected MSM participants. The three most common pathological constitutions were Yang deficiency 15.5%, yin deficiency 13.1%, and qi deficiency 11.2%. The study determined scores for various quality of life domains: psychological (13.44 ± 2.27), social relationship (13.81 ± 2.80), physiological (14.43 ± 2.41), and environmental (14.78 ± 2.21). The TCM constitution is strongly correlated with the quality of life. Excess constitution had the worst quality of life. Comparing the infected time over one year with the time of <0-2 weeks, the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were determined for abnormal CD4⁺ and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio (OR: odds ratio: 0.03, 0.07, respectively, p < 0.001). Compared with the Gentleness constitution, there is a significant difference between the Deficiency and Excess constitution in sleep status and negative mood by multiple regression analysis (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The Excess constitutions was correlated with worse quality of life. Even if the immune system was restored, the psychosocial domain, sleep status, and negative mood were not improved.