Huifen Liu,1 Bing Xu2 

1Operation Management Department, Hangzhou Wuyunshan Hospital (Hangzhou Institute of Health Promotion), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Second Campus of Xing ‘an League People’s Hospital, Wulanhot, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Bing Xu, Email bjf993@126.com

Objective: To assess the clinical application and therapeutic efficacy of the Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) management model among elderly individuals in a sub-health state, and to evaluate its impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL).
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted, analyzing clinical data from sub-health elderly patients who received care at a designated medical institution between January 2021 and December 2023. A total of 180 patients meeting the predefined inclusion criteria were recruited and stratified into two arms based on the intervention administered. The control group received routine care without specific management protocols, whereas the experimental group underwent a structured TCM management model intervention (It covers herbal therapy, acupunture, Tui Na, medical diets and teas, etc). Outcome measures, including symptomatic relief, health-related quality of life (assessed using the SF-36 scale), and patient satisfaction, were compared between the two groups to determine the intervention’s efficacy.
Results: There were no significant differences in the basic information between the two groups, indicating comparability (P> 0.05). The overall effective rate of treatment in the experimental group (98.89%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (51.11%). After the intervention, the SCL-90 scores of the experimental group patients (1.32± 0.25, 1.65± 0.45, 1.71± 0.56, 1.42± 0.25, 1.45± 0.31, 1.23± 0.34, 1.33± 0.28, 1.42± 0.18, 1.37± 0.29) were significantly lower than those of the control group (1.89± 0.32, 1.97± 0.41, 1.95± 0.35, 1.85± 0.23, 1.78± 0.27, 1.86± 0.34, 1.93± 0.35, 1.68± 0.19, 1.67± 0.28), P< 0.05. The health status scores of the experimental group patients (69.25± 5.96, 25.78± 3.22, 1.51± 0.52, 1.03± 0.36, 0.95± 0.12, 3.99± 0.68) were significantly higher than those of the control group (65.02± 6.11, 18.23± 2.14, 1.11± 0.23, 0.85± 0.21, 0.71± 0.22, 3.13± 0.25). The GSES score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. The UCLA-LS score of the experimental group (25.22± 9.14) was significantly lower than that of the control group (39.47± 8.37). The SF-36 scores of the experimental group (85.14± 5.14, 87.65± 5.56, 79.36± 4.69, 60.23± 8.73, 64.25± 5.14, 78.36± 4.65, 66.89± 5.11, 67.65± 7.03) were all higher than those of the control group (58.36± 6.11, 45.36± 6.05, 40.35± 7.11, 25.69± 8.41, 33.23± 5.56, 40.56± 8.56, 35.21± 2.25, 35.49± 5.87). The LSIA score of the experimental group (15.88± 1.56) was higher than that of the control group (11.03± 1.13), All P< 0.05.
Conclusion: The TCM management model effectively alleviates symptoms, enhances health status, and improves psychological resilience among elderly patients in a sub-health state. It significantly elevates their QoL and life satisfaction, indicating substantial potential for widespread adoption and integration into mainstream healthcare practices for geriatric sub-health populations. However, this study still has limitations that require further refinement in subsequent research.

Keywords: traditional Chinese medical management model, elderly, sub-health, quality of life