title: [Relationships between constitutional types of traditional Chinese medicine and motion sickness in 145 ocean sailors].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationships between constitutional types of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and motion sickness.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey of TCM constitutions in ocean sailors participating in a voyage was performed by using the TCM Constitution Questionnaire developed by Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, while the survey of motion sickness was operated by Graybiel's diagnostic criteria. The incidences of motion sickness among sailors with different types of constitutions were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prior to the voyage, 50.3% of sailors exhibited a gentleness constitution, 14.5% were of dampness-heat constitution, 10.3% were of qi-stagnation constitution, whereas the percentages of qi-deficiency, yang-deficiency, yin-deficiency, blood-stasis and special diathesis constitutions were 6.2%, 7.6%, 6.2%, 4.1% and 0.7%, respectively. None exhibited a phlegm-dampness constitution. By the end of the 176-day voyage, the percentages of gentleness, dampness-heat, qi-depression, qi-deficiency, yang-deficiency, yin-deficiency, blood-stasis, special diathesis and phlegm-dampness constitutions were 33.8%, 13.8%, 13.1%, 11.0%, 6.9%, 9.7%, 4.1%, 0.7% and 6.9%, respectively. The incidence of motion sickness was 69.7% (101 sailors) during this voyage. The incidences of motion sickness among sailors with different types of constitutions before the voyage showed significant difference (P<0.001). The incidence of motion sickness was higher in the sailors with dampness-heat constitution than in those with gentleness constitution.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Types of Chinese medical constitution can be related to susceptibility to motion sickness. Furthermore, ocean voyage may have an effect or influence on the type of Chinese medical constitution of sailors involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Military Hygiene, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Feng-feng
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Guo-yin
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Liang-neng
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Fan-fu
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Cai-ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chang-quan
authors.initials: CQ
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001824:Body Constitution; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008889:Military Personnel; D009041:Motion Sickness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult