Clinical research in eight constitution medicine (ECM): a scoping review

Abstract

Background Understanding human differencesis essential for the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. To establish sound evidence for Eight Constitution Medicine (ECM),which is a Korean personalized medical system, it is necessary to identifythe status of clinical research in ECM and develop validated measurements. This study aims to confirm the type of clinical research on ECM and how it has been conducted. Methods A scoping review was conducted using two international databases (PubMed and Cochrane) and five domestic electronic databases (DBpia, RISS, KISS, NDSL, and OASIS), using strategies such as reference search and grey literature search. Mapping was attempted, and sub-categories were established, synthesized, and presented in tables. All content related to ECM published internationally and domestically and in Korean and English was included, however, theses or dissertations were excluded. Results A total of 73 ECM-related studies were selected. There were 46 (63.0) original studies, of which 38 (82.6) were observational and eight (17.4) were experimental. There were six Eight Constitution Diet (ECD)-related studies (13.0) which was much less than the 15 (32.6) Eight Constitution Acupuncture (ECA)-related studies. To measure the effectiveness of ECM, nine (19.6) Visual Analogy Scale (VAS) and three (6.5) patient self-reporting studies were used in the ECA studies; however, the method of measurement in other studies were heterogeneous. Conclusions The original research evidence for ECM was mainly from observational studies on ECA and Eight Constitution Diagnosis (ECDx). Active clinical research related to ECD and a tool that effectively measures adherence and target diseases are required. Furthermore, it is necessary to introduce electronic patient-reported outcome measurements that can be used in community-based clinical environments.