Suboptimal health

Suboptimal health status (SHS),[1][2] or subhealth[3] or sub-health(Chinese: 亚健康), can be defined as a state characterized by some disturbances in psychological behaviors or physical characteristics, or in some indices of medical examination, with no typical pathologic features[3]. It is considered as a therapeutic working concept which defines an intermediate stage between health and disease, which is not quite either status.[3][4] Human persons who are sub-healthy have any of a range of uncomfortable symptoms but without any obvious and diagnosable illnesses which can be identified through standard medical observation methods. This concept was first presented as "the third state" by the scholar of former Soviet Union, Berkman, in the mid-1980s.[5] It is also interpreted as different terms like "intermediate state", "grey state" or "a general malaise". Sub-health is a term which is widely used by Chinese people, or in connection with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).[6]

Some feel that the notion of SHS has been invented to sell people medical products.[7]

Signs and symptoms

Signs and symptoms considered indicators of SHS include aches, chronic fatigue, indigestion, sleep disorders, congestion, nervousness, distraction, nausea, and poor mood.[8][9]

Diagnosis[3]

SHS was measured by the suboptimal health questionnaire (SHSQ-25) including 25 items.[1] Each subject was asked to rate a specific statement on a five-point Likert-type scale, based on how often they suffered various specific complaints in the preceding 3 months: (1) never or almost never, (2) occasionally, (3) often, (4) very often, and (5) always. The raw scores of 1 to 5 on the questionnaire were recoded as 0 to 4. SHS scores were calculated for each respondent by summing the ratings for the 25 items. A high score represents a high level of SHS (poor health). The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the SHSQ-25 was 0.91, indicating good internal consistency. The final questionnaire congregated into a score (SHSQ-25) which could significantly distinguish among several abnormal conditions and could be used as a translational medicine instrument for health measuring in the general population.[10]

Another criteria for diagnosis of subhealth was defined as the presence of ≥ 1 of the following abnormalities: body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2 or waist circumference ≥ 102 cm in men and 88 cm in women; systolic pressure 120-139 mmHg and/or diastolic pressure 80-89 mmHg; serum triglyceride level ≥ 150 mg/dL and/or total cholesterol level ≥ 200 mg/dL and/or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level < 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women; serum glucose level 110–125 mg/dL; estimated glomerular filtration rate 60-89 ml/min/1.73 m2; levels of liver enzymes in liver function tests between 41-59 U/L, or with fatty liver disease but < 33% of affected hepatocytes; levels of oxidative stress biomarkers beyond the reference range of 95%; or problems with both sleep quality and psychological state.[3]

Population Health Status

Despite significant advances in medicine and public health, suboptimal health persists. Understanding health on a population level is an approach that seeks to improve the health of an entire population or subpopulation, to unravel variations in health outcomes, and to identify effective strategies for reducing or eliminating inequities both within and between population groups. Any foundation for understanding population health considers: 1) how population health is defined and measured; 2) the biological, behavioral, cultural, social, and environmental determinants of population health; 3) the role of healthcare and economic decision-making in population health; 4) and intervention and policy strategies for improving population health.

The parameters of measuring what we term 'health' and 'wellness' is a matter of ongoing health research and debate. Definition of terms is foundational, covering alternative medicine, workforce wellness, freedom from disease, and the U.N. definition of the highest achievable standard of individual and population well-being.

Engineers have proposed digital, handheld methods for many of those individuals to closely monitor their own health conditions, hoping to get need demands of both SHS groups and aging populations. Such a proposed healthcare system, which can provide self-monitoring of one's health status, early warning of disease, and even an instant report of the physiological signal analysis for individuals, is becoming more and more popular among many Chinese persons for whom it could be made available, in part because its theoretical foundations are based in traditional Chinese medicine.[11][12]

SHS is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease. SHS should be recognized in the health care system, especially in primary care.[13] A correlation between SHS and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, plasma glucose, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol among men, and a correlation between SHS and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol among women were found. The SHSQ-25 is a self-rated questionnaire of perceived health complaints, which can be used as a new instrument for predictive, preventive and personalized medicine (PPPM). An ongoing longitudinal SHS cohort survey (China Sub-optimal Health Cohort Study, COACS) consisting of 50,000 participants will provide a powerful health trial to use SHSQ-25 for its application to PPPM through patient stratification and therapy monitoring using innovative technologies of predictive diagnostics and prognosis: an effort of paradigm shift from reactive to predictive medicine.[14] one study also confirmed the association between chronic psychosocial stress and SHS, indicating that improving the psychosocial work environment may reduce SHS and then prevent chronic diseases effectively.[15] SHS is associated with endothelial dysfunction. Integration of suboptimal health status and endothelial dysfunction provides a novel tool to allow people to get a more holistic picture of both subjective and objective health measures, and also can be applied to routine screening for risks of cardiovascular diseases.[16] To investigate the causative effect of SHS in non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD), China suboptimal health cohort study (COACS), a longitudinal study starting from 2013 was initiated. Phase I of the study involved a cross-sectional survey aimed at identifying the risk/protective factors associated with SHS; and Phase II: a longitudinal yearly follow-up study investigating how SHS contributes to the incidence and pattern of NCD.[17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Yan, Yu-Xiang, et al. "Development and evaluation of a questionnaire for measuring suboptimal health status in urban Chinese." Journal of epidemiology 19.6 (2009): 333-341.
  2. ↑ Wang, Wei; Yuxiang Yan (2012). "Suboptimal health: a new health dimension for translational medicine". Clinical and Translational Medicine. 1 (1): 28. doi:10.1186/2001-1326-1-28. ISSN 2001-1326.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Li, Guolin; Fuxia Xie, Siyu Yan, Xiaofei Hu, Bo Jin, Jun Wang, Jinfeng Wu, Dazhong Yin, Qingji Xie (2013). "Subhealth: definition, criteria for diagnosis and potential prevalence in the central region of China". BMC Public Health. 13 (1): 446. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-446. ISSN 1471-2458. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  4. ↑ Cui, Hai-Zhen; Li-Min Wang; Xin Zhao; Yue-Yun Liu; Shao-Xian Wang; Xiao-Hong Li; You-Ming Jiang; Jia-Xu Chen (2013). "Metabonomics-Based Study of Clinical Urine Samples in Suboptimal Health with Different Syndromes". Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013: 1–7. doi:10.1155/2013/509134. ISSN 1741-427X. PMC 3562683Freely accessible. PMID 23401715.
  5. ↑ Health Management of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Help You Get Rid of Sub-health (2010). Retrieved March 25, 2014
  6. ↑ Cai, Lang (1 August 2011). "Beijing United - Sub-health". United Family Healthcare. Retrieved 18 April 2014. External link in |publisher= (help)
  7. ↑ Huáng, Jiànshǐ (April 2010). 世上本无"亚健康" 只因此词有"金砖" (in Chinese). Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Lin, Alyssa (4 June 2013). "97% HK citizens suffer from "suboptimal health" symptoms: survey". Asia Pacific Daily. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Suboptimal Health Survey" (PDF). EPMA Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  10. ↑ Wang, Wei; Yan, Yuxiang (2012-11-14). "Suboptimal health: a new health dimension for translational medicine". Clinical and Translational Medicine. 1 (1). doi:10.1186/2001-1326-1-28. ISSN 2001-1326. PMC 3561061Freely accessible. PMID 23369267.
  11. ↑ [H. Ding, J. He, and W. Wang, "The sub-health evaluation based on the modern diagnostic technique of traditional Chinese medicine," in Proc. Workshop Edu. Technol. Comput. Sci., Shanghai, China, Mar. 7–8, 2009, pp. 269–273.]
  12. ↑ Wang W, Yan YX, Suboptimal health: a new health dimension for translational medicine
  13. ↑ Yan, Yu X.; Dong, Jing; Liu, You Q.; Yang, Xing H.; Li, Man; Shia, Gilbert; Wang, Wei (2012-04-01). "Association of suboptimal health status and cardiovascular risk factors in urban Chinese workers". Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 89 (2): 329–338. doi:10.1007/s11524-011-9636-8. ISSN 1468-2869. PMC 3324604Freely accessible. PMID 22203493.
  14. ↑ Wang, Wei; Russell, Alyce; Yan, Yuxiang (2014-01-01). "Traditional Chinese medicine and new concepts of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine in diagnosis and treatment of suboptimal health". EPMA Journal. 5: 4. doi:10.1186/1878-5085-5-4. ISSN 1878-5085. PMC 3926271Freely accessible. PMID 24521056.
  15. ↑ Yan, Yu-Xiang; Dong, Jing; Liu, You-Qin; Zhang, Jie; Song, Man-Shu; He, Yan; Wang, Wei (2015-01-02). "Association of suboptimal health status with psychosocial stress, plasma cortisol and mRNA expression of glucocorticoid receptor α/β in lymphocyte". Stress. 18 (1): 29–34. doi:10.3109/10253890.2014.999233. ISSN 1025-3890.
  16. ↑ Kupaev, Vitalii; Borisov, Oleg; Marutina, Ekaterina; Yan, Yu-Xiang; Wang, Wei (2016-09-12). "Integration of suboptimal health status and endothelial dysfunction as a new aspect for risk evaluation of cardiovascular disease". EPMA Journal. 7 (1). doi:10.1186/s13167-016-0068-0. ISSN 1878-5085. PMC 5018938Freely accessible. PMID 27621756.
  17. ↑ Wang, Youxin; Ge, Siqi; Yan, Yuxiang; Wang, Anxin; Zhao, Zhongyao; Yu, Xinwei; Qiu, Jing; Alzain, Mohamed Ali; Wang, Hao (2016-10-13). "China suboptimal health cohort study: rationale, design and baseline characteristics". Journal of Translational Medicine. 14 (1). doi:10.1186/s12967-016-1046-y. ISSN 1479-5876. PMC 5064923Freely accessible. PMID 27737677.
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