Background/objective: Sasang constitutional medicine is a component of traditional Korean medicine that classifies individuals into four Sasang constitutional types (SCTs) by their physical and psychological traits. Each SCT is known to show different susceptibilities to disorders. This systematic review investigated the effect of SCT as a risk factor for various disorders.
Methods: A systematic literature survey was conducted by searching seven databases for all articles on the prevalence rates of disorders according to SCT and sex.
Results: From 14,272 relevant articles, 15 studies (13 disorders) were ultimately identified to verify different prevalence rates by SCT. Of the 13 disorders, 6 (prehypertension, general obesity, abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, and irritable bowel syndrome [IBS]) had a significantly different prevalence by SCT. Metabolic syndrome and its associated disorders showed the highest prevalence in Taeumin-type individuals, whereas IBS was most prevalent in Soeumin-type individuals. In general, these findings were consistent with the results obtained in an analysis of male and female participants.
Conclusions: This study revealed that susceptibility to disorders was affected by SCT to some extent. Further studies are needed to determine the concrete features of SCT-related susceptibility, which may be helpful in preventive medicine with Sasang constitutional practice.
Keywords: Sasang constitutional type; susceptibility; traditional Korean medicine.