Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 1998; 3: 189
Ayurveda is increasingly used in Europe. In Ayurveda questionnaires on the individual constitution which is claimed to be a mixture of the types vata, pitta, and kapha, are important diagnostic tools. In the Indian literature a predominant vata constitution is assumed to precede psychosomatic problems and also hypertension.
An ayurvedic questionnaire, which covered physical and psychological items, was tested in 111 patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension (H) and 71 healthy controls with negative family history of hypertension (N).
In both groups the general constitution was predominantly pitta (which is related to metabolic processes and problems):H:N=72.9%:60.3%, n.s.). The psychological constitution of the female H (n = 52) rather often was vata (m/f: 15.8%/45.1%, p < 0,004). In the male H, a physical kapha constitution was found more often (m/f: 32.2/23.5%, p < 0,05) (kapha is assumed to be involved in structural alterations e.g. atherosclerosis). In the N (m/f: 33/38) no additional dominant constitutional aspect was found. Severity of hypertension, clinical aspects (e.g. obesity) or laboratory parameters were not associated with constitutional prevalences.
In context with the results of lifestyle studies on hypertension that mainly women could reduce blood pressure by alteration of lifestyle, ayurvedic constitutional criteria could support the development of single-minded diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in hypertensive patients. The study also shows that the transfer of diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations from other ethnic settings should be with care.
