Objective

2

We aimed (ⅰ) to explore the correlation between the public′s acute stress reaction(ASR) and the constitution of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) during the COVID-19 epidemic and (ⅱ) to provide a basis for adjusting the constitution bias and improving the public′s ability to cope with COVID-19 under the normalized management of the epidemic.

Methods

2

From February 3 to February 15

2022

an electronic questionnaire survey was conducted using a combination of convenient sampling and snowball sampling. Statistics of basic information (gender

age

marital status

educational background

the likelihood of believing that they are infected

the likelihood of believing that people around them are infected

whether the location is a risk area

and whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19)

the scores of the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ)

and TCM constitution transformation scores of each subscale of a 30-Item Short Version of Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ-30) were calculated. Those with a SASRQ score of ≥40 were included in the ASR group

and those with a SASRQ score of <40 were included in the non-ASR group. The basic information and TCM constitution of the two groups were compared. Spearman correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to examine the correlation between the total SASRQ score and the transformation score of each CCMQ-30 subscale.

Results

2

A total of 1 218 questionnaires were collected

of which 116 invalid questionnaires were excluded

so 1 102 samples were included in the final analysis. The effective rate of the questionnaire was 90.48%. (ⅰ)There were 892 people in the non-ASR group and 210 people in the ASR group. There were no significant differences in gender

age

marital status

educational background

whether the location was a risk area

the possibility of infection

and vaccination between the two groups (

P

>

0.05)

while there were significant differences in the possibility of believing that people around them are infected (

P

<

0.05); the proportion of people who perceived the possibility of infection was higher in the ASR group than in the non-ASR group. (ⅱ)There were significant differences in the scores of nine TCM constitutions between the ASR group and the non-ASR group (

P

<

0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the total SASRQ score was negatively correlated with balanced constitution (

r

=-0.353

P

<

0.01)

while it was positively correlated with eight biased constitutions; ordered based on the correlation from strong to weak

these constitutions were the following: qi-stagnation

qi-deficiency

blood-stasis

phlegm-dampness

inherited special

yin-deficiency

dampness-heat

and yang-deficiency (

r

=0.235 to 0.367

P

<

0.01).(ⅲ) Multiple linear regression analysis controlling for the interaction of biased constitutions showed that qi-stagnation(

β

′=0.214

P

<

0.01)

qi-deficiency (

β

′=0.139

P

<

0.05)

and inherited special constitution(

β

′=0.088

P

<

0.01) were the independent influencing factors of ASR. Further control for confounding variables yielded similar result.

Conclusion

2

Qi-stagnation

qi-deficiency

and inherited special constitution have a great influence on public ASR. It is suggested to focus on adjusting qi-stagnation

qi-deficiency

and inherited special constitution to improve public physical and mental health under the normal management of the COVID-19 epidemic.