title: A Quantitative Investigation of Pulse and Tongue Features in Post-Stroke Depressive Patients and Healthy Volunteers: An Observational Pilot Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depression is among the most common neuropsychiatric complications after stroke, having a negative impact on one's quality of life. A number of therapeutic modalities have been used for post-stroke depression (PSD) including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). However, a lack of objectivity in TCM hampers further improvement in diagnosis and research, since TCM diagnosis is mainly based on subjective judgment of clinicians. In this study, a modern TCM diagnostic device was used to conduct an objective study of pulse and tongue features in PSD patients and healthy individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 67 volunteers participated. Pulse and tongue information of each participant was acquired and analyzed by the TCM Four Diagnosis Auxiliary Apparatus. Quantitative data were gathered and compared between the PSD group and the healthy group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher rates of weak, slow, slippery, and string pulse were observed in the PSD group (p < 0.01), whereas normal pulse (p < 0.01) was detected in the healthy group. In the tongue analysis, higher rates of purple tongue (p < 0.01) with yellow fur (p < 0.01) and pale-pink tongue (p = 0.023) with white fur (p < 0.01) were observed in the PSD and the healthy groups, respectively. Abnormal tongue features (old, soft, thin, enlarged, thorny, and cracked) were detected (p < 0.05) in the PSD group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Objective and quantitative data of PSD patients and healthy individuals may help providing valuable clinical information for PSD research and establish quantitative TCM diagnostic standards for pulse and tongue diagnosis in clinical practice and research.
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Samuel Haixiong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tingli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Xuezhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qingwen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Niu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011674:Pulse; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D014059:Tongue / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult