Authors
Cheng-Hung Lee, Yi-Chang Su, Chia-Ing Li, Chuan-Wei Yang, Tsai-Chung Li
Published in
Frontiers in medicine. Volume 13. Pages 1973268. Epub Oct 20, 2026.
Abstract
This study investigated whether smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity mediate the associations between sex and Traditional Chinese Medicine body constitutions.
We analyzed data from 35,456 adults aged >18 years enrolled in the Taiwan Biobank. Body constitutions (yang deficiency, yin deficiency, and phlegm-stasis) were assessed using the Body Constitution Questionnaire (BCQ). The BCQ consists of 44 items. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ("never") to 5 ("always"), with higher scores indicating a greater tendency toward the corresponding body constitution. Lifestyle behaviors included smoking, alcohol consumption, and leisure-time physical inactivity. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed.
Female sex was independently associated with increased odds of yang deficiency [odds ratio (OR) = 2.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.34-2.71], yin deficiency (OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.95-2.25), and phlegm-stasis (OR = 3.03, 95% CI: 2.79-3.30). Smoking showed significant negative indirect association, whereas alcohol consumption exhibited minimal mediation. Physical inactivity statistically accounted for approximately 6% of the observed associations between female sex and all three body constitution patterns.
Women were more likely than men to exhibit yang deficiency, yin deficiency, and phlegm-stasis constitutions. Lifestyle behaviors explained only a small proportion of these sex differences. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of causal mediation.
PMID:
42978732
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Nov 2026.
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