Objective To investigate the relationship among different birth years of earthly branches,controlling heaven qi and terrestrial effect qi and life span based on TCM theory of five circuits and six qi.Methods The data of died cases (n =6 020) was collected from the Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital affiliated to Medical College of Qingdao University from Feb.2002 to Jan.2015.The difference in life span was given Kruskal-Wallis H in statistical test for discussing the discrepancy in life span in the cases born in different years with different earthly branches,controlling heaven qi and terrestrial effect qi.Results The difference in life span had statistical significance in the cases born in different years of earthly branches and controlling heaven qi (P ＜ 0.05).The order of length of life span in cases born in different years of earthly branches was as follows:ziyear ＞ chou year ＞ wu year ＞ wei year ＞ si year ＞chen year ＞ hai year ＞ mao year ＞ shen year ＞ you year ＞ yin year ＞ xu year.The order of length of life span in cases born in different years of controlling heaven qi was as follows:Shaoyin junhuo year ＞ Taiyin shitu year ＞ Yangming zaojin year ＞ Shaoyang xianghuo year ＞ Jueyin fengmu year ＞ Taiyang hanshui year.The difference in length of life span in cases born in different years of terrestrial effect qi had no statisticalsignificance (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Different birth years of earthly branches and controlling heaven have some influence on length of life span.The average age of cases born in zi year,chou year,wu year and wei year of earthly branches qi is above 68-year-old and has an extend trend,which is coincide with that average age of cases born in Shaoyin junhuo year and Taiyin shitu year of controlling heaven qi is longer than that of cases born in other years of controlling heaven qi.It is inferred that the life span of a person born in Shaoyin junhuo year or Taiyin shitu year of controlling heaven qi can be improved,and controlling heaven qi in birth year has more influence on life span than terrestrial effect qi.