Preliminary Research On Diabetic Patients' TCM Body Constitution Among Malaysian Chinese In Klang Valley

347 million people worldwide have diabetes, which is a major public health concern worldwide. Malaysia alone makes up 3 million people (NHMS 2015 shows that 17.5% of adults 18 years and above in Malaysia have diabetes). Compare to 11.6% in 2006, it has increased 50.8% in the space of 9 years. Imposing burden on individuals and society with staggering economic cost and low productivity. Based on NHMS results and projections by the Disease Control Division, MOH, the prevalence of diabetes among adults in Malaysia is projected to rise to 21.6% by the year 2020. Currently in Malaysia or in the rest of the world outside China, we have no data about the body constitution of people with diabetes. Objectives:This research is aimed to map a preliminary body constitution pattern on Malaysian diabetic patients, and to find out the the association with quality of life, hence to provide a baseline data for further TCM research in Malaysia. Method:This is a cross sectional study which involves sixty eight patients with type 2 diabetes age 18 and above in Malaysia to answer designed questionnaire about TCM Body Constitution and Quality of Life, Data will be analyse to understand the common body constitution in Chinese medicine diagnose and whether there is a difference between Chinese in Malaysia and China. Using SPSS to process and coding of data. The descriptive data will be summarised using percentages and means (standard deviation). Associations will be tested using Chi square for categorical data and student t test for continuous data. Conclusion:1. Moderate body constitution is the common pattern, while Qi deficiency and Yin deficiency is the common abnormal pattern. "Nourishing Yin, Tonifying Qi, Dispel Heat" is the principle treatment; 2. Maintaining a moderate body constitution is the key to good quality of life for T2DM patients; 3. Blood stagnation body constitution has the worst QoL rating, microangiopathy is the cause of diabetes complication. Promoting blood circulation is important in the prevention of complication; 4. Dampness or damp-heat body constitution is commonly seen in younger age group patients, while patients in older age group is lesser. One should treat according to body constitution pattern of different age group; 5. BMI has no direct connection with QoL ratings, but those who maintain a good BMI rating has the best QoL rating. This may be related to understanding of "Healthy" in Malaysian culture.