Comparability of Traditional Persian Medicine with the New Concepts of Personal and Precision Medicine: A Qualitative Study

Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) has a thousand-year history and a holistic approach that respects personal characteristics in its diagnosis and management. The objective of this study was to explore the concepts of personal and precision medicine in traditional Persian and modern medicine. A qualitative study design with a content analysis approach was conducted. Purposive and snowball sampling approaches were used to select participants. Then, we approached experts in various fields, including TPM, genetics, epidemiology, physiology, pharmacy, and general medicine. In the beginning, we summarized the concept of personalized medicine (PM) and asked them how many similarities and differences they might find between TPM and PM. A semi-structured questionnaire with six parts was used to collect data. The duration of each interview varied from 30 to 65 min. The interviews and experts’ viewpoints were recorded via an online platform and transcribed verbatim. The data analysis process involved several sequential steps: initial familiarization, coding, theme generation, theme review, theme definition and naming, and final writing. After coding all texts and extracting issues, categories and conceptual frameworks were created by interpreting the content. To analyze the data, the content analysis approach assisted by MAXQDA 2018 software was used. More than 70% of participants showed a favorable attitude in all evaluated parts. Approximately 80% of participants agreed that there are parallels between TPM and precision medicine; for example, in TPM and precision medicine, patients are treated with respect to their characteristics. More than 80% of participants thought temperamentology may help with patient diagnosis and treatment. They also suggested that TPM concepts could be used to improve and accelerate the implementation of precision medicine. The majority of participants acknowledged the use of phenotypes to reduce the reliance on genetics in precision medicine. However, several participants expressed skepticism. According to the participants, these concepts will not be beneficial unless TPM aligns with modern medicine. In addition, there must be scientific evidence confirming the association between different genes and temperaments. The advent of precision medicine does not mean disregarding TPM; rather, the concepts of TPM can be used in precision medicine. For example, phenotype can assist in reducing the reliance on genetics in precision medicine. Because phenotype, as an important concept in TPM, is the external manifestation of the genotype. In addition, like precision medicine, TPM can help to provide personalized medical treatment based on people's temperament.