title: Cancer incidence varies significantly depending on sasang constitution of traditional Korean medicine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sasang constitutional medicine is a component of Traditional Korean Medicine that stresses the hereditary makeup of disease incidences or therapeutic responses. This study investigated the relationship between the incidence of cancer and Sasang constitution classification.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred and one cancer patients were classified as having one of the four types of Sasang constitutions (Taeumin, Soumin, Soyangin, Taeyangin) using Questionnaire for Sasang Constitution Classification II, then compared with data from 1423 healthy subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Sasang constitutional distribution for the cancer patients was significantly different from that for healthy subjects: 22.8% vs 46.9% for Taeumin, 35.5% vs 24.0% for Soumin, and 41.7% vs 29.1% for Soyangin. Our results assumed that the lowest cancer incidence would be in Taeumin (around 2-fold in both sex) while the highest cancer incidence in Soumin males (2.8-fold) and Soyangin females (2.1-fold).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identified a trend involving the frequency of cancer and the Sasang constitutional classification. We hope that this finding will provide new ideas for the study of cancer incidence and its preventive management.
authors.affiliation: Liver and Immunology Research Center, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon 302-724, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jonghoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Weechang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Junghyo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Chongkwan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Hwaseung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Changgue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Son
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D055670:Medicine, Korean Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D055815:Young Adult