Theoretical innovation and practice of traditional Chinese medicine constitution on the diagnosis and treatment of multimorbidity

Based on the practical problems faced by the current diagnosis and treatment of multimorbidity, this paper systematically summarizes the conceptual category and research status of multimorbidity, as well as the opportunities and challenges of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitution in handling comorbidity. The constitution of TCM has unique advantages in clarifying the causes of "multi-disease co-occurrence," exploring the essence of "different diseases with the same constitution," and formulating a strategy for the "same prevention and treatment." This paper primarily discusses the practical value of the TCM constitution in the prevention and treatment of multimorbidity from three aspects: constitution identification provides an early warning for the same prevention of different diseases; treatment based on constitution differentiation provides a new way of treating different diseases; and the microscopic mechanism clarifies the scientific basis of the same prevention and treatment strategies. The pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment views of the TCM constitution offer a novel theoretical perspective on the mechanism of multimorbidity occurrence, provide practical directions for the prevention and treatment of multimorbidity, and offer ideas and preliminary exploration for the construction of a diagnosis and treatment system for multimorbidity in cooperation with Chinese and Western medicine.