Work

Prevalence of Traditional East Asian Medicine Patterns among Older Adults with Frailty: a systematic review of observational studies

Year: 2026

Type: review

Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome that increases vulnerability to adverse health outcomes.Traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) provides a distinct framework for understanding frailty through syndrome differentiation; however, the prevalence and distribution of TEAM patterns in frail populations remain unclear.This review aimed to systematically evaluate and meta-analyze the prevalence of TEAM patterns in frail older adults.A comprehensive search of five electronic databases was conducted through May 2025.Observational studies reporting TEAM patterns in adults aged ≥ 60 years with validated frailty diagnoses were included.Two independent reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.Random-effects meta-analysis was used to pool prevalence estimates.Eleven observational studies involving 3,345 participants met the inclusion criteria.All studies were conducted in China; no eligible studies from Korea or Japan were identified.Methodological quality was generally low, and no study was rated as high quality.Deficiency-related TEAM patterns predominated.The most frequently reported patterns were qi-blood deficiency (exploratory pooled prevalence: 24.0%) and kidney essence deficiency (24.0%), followed by spleen deficiency with phlegm-dampness (23.0%).Liver-kidney yin deficiency had a pooled prevalence of 26.0%, based on two studies.Substantial heterogeneity was observed across studies (I 2 > 80%), and overall methodological limitations reduce the precision and generalizability of these findings.Syndrome differentiation was conducted by TEAM practitioners using the four diagnostic methods, consistently incorporating tongue and pulse examination; however, diagnostic criteria varied among studies.Age, comorbidities, and nutritional markers were associated with frailty.Exploratory analysis suggests frail older adults predominantly exhibit deficiency-related patterns, particularly qi-blood deficiency, kidney essence deficiency, and spleen deficiency with phlegm-dampness.However, the low methodological quality, substantial heterogeneity, and restriction to Chinese populations indicate that these findings should be considered preliminary and require confirmation through rigorously designed studies.

Source: Journal of pharmacopuncture

DOI: 10.3831/kpi.2026.29.1.1

Authors: Chan-Young Kwon, Boram Lee

Institutions: Dong-Eui University, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine

Language: English

Topic: Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies

Subfield: Complementary and alternative medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion, Division of Human Resource Development