[Development and evaluation of an inquiry scale for diagnosis of heart system syndromes in traditional Chinese medicine].
OBJECTIVE
To develop an inquiry scale for diagnosis of heart system syndromes, and to discuss the provisional standardization of the inquiry method in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).


METHODS
Based on scale-making method, Chinese medicine theory and literature searching, an inquiry scale for diagnosis of heart system syndromes in TCM was developed. Statistics method, frequency counting and Delphi method were used for analysis. The inquiry scale was revised and tested repeatedly to check the test reliability, internal consistency reliability, and content validity, etc.


RESULTS
The inquiry scale for diagnosis of heart system syndromes mainly covered basic data, chief complaint, history of present illness (accompanying symptoms) and past history, with appendix of inspection and palpation information as well as diagnosis made according to traditional Chinese and Western medicine. Among them, general inquiries covered fever and chills, sweating, head-body and chest-belly symptoms, taste and diet, stool and urine, sleep, mood, and gynecologic symptoms, which were scaled in 8 dimensions. And 66 symptom variables were screened finally. The scale had a good content validity and its coefficient alpha was 0.82. For the results of test-retest reliability, the Kappa values of using the scale for diagnosis of heart-qi deficiency, heart-yang deficiency, turbid phlegm, and cold coagulation twice by the same doctor ranged from 0.74 to 1, showing that the consistency of the scale was relatively high. The Kappa values of evaluation of scorer reliability in diagnosis of heart-qi deficiency, heart-yang deficiency, and heart-yin deficiency were also high, which were 0.63, 0.72, 1 and 0.48 respectively. Other results of diagnosis had low-consistency or even no diagnostic agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
The research on the scale for inquiry in TCM indicates that it is feasible for the standardization of inquiry scale for diagnosis of heart system syndromes in TCM, offering a reference for research on the inquiry scales for other systems.
Liu
Guo-ping
GP
Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
Wang
Yi-qin
YQ
Dong
Ying
Y
Zhao
Nai-qing
NQ
Xu
Zhao-xia
ZX
Li
Fu-feng
FF
Yan
Hai-xia
HX
Qian
Peng
P
Guo
Rui
R
Zhang
Xiao-dan
XD
DI
Dan
D
D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013577:Syndrome