Diagnosis of symptomatic postmenopausal women by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.
OBJECTIVE
To learn more about the way that practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnose women who have menopausal symptoms.


METHODS
We assembled a cohort of 23 postmenopausal women who had hot flushes and were otherwise healthy. Each woman was examined independently by nine practitioners of TCM on the same day. Examination consisted of medical history and physical examination. Diagnoses were recorded and counted.


RESULTS
The most frequent diagnosis made by the practitioners of TCM was kidney yin deficiency, which was the diagnosis made after 168 of 207 visits (81%); 23 women seen by nine TCM practitioners. Practitioners showed good agreement regarding presence of kidney yin deficiency: in 12 women (52%), this diagnosis was made by eight of nine practitioners; in 16 women (70%), seven of nine practitioners made this diagnosis; and in all 23 women (100%), at least five of nine practitioners made this diagnosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Practitioners of TCM who diagnose postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms are likely to make a diagnosis that includes kidney yin deficiency.
Zell
B
B
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers, Richmond, California 94801-2565, USA.
Hirata
J
J
Marcus
A
A
Ettinger
B
B
Pressman
A
A
Ettinger
K M
KM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D016710:Yin Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology