Clinical Research &
Application
Internal Organ Disorders
A REGRESSION ANALYSIS REGARDING
DIAGNOSTIC POTENTIAL OF FEW VARIABLES OF ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY IN
BRONCHIAL ASTHMA
Debasis BAKSHI, Sujata PAL,
Basudev MUKHERJEE, Smarajit BASU,
Jyotirmoy CHATTERJEE, Keya Chaudhuri
Department of Acupuncture, Indian Research Institute for Integrated
Medicine(IRIIM).
Mourigram Station Para, P.O. Unsani, Howrah 711 302, West Bengal,
India.
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology.
Aim: Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory
and obstructive airway disease. As the traditional Chinese acupuncture
therapy offers therapeutic options in this regard, the authors verify
the potential of some diagnostic components of this therapy.
Methods: In this study on 36 male and female asthmatic patients
ranging from 4 to 75 years old, traditional diagnostic indicators
like tongue coating and size, thirst, sleep, irritation and anxiety
were used for differential diagnosis as per ZangFu theory. Thus
23 patients came under Fei (Lung) group with predominance of irritation,
white tongue coating, less thirst and sleep; 7 patients came under
Fei (Lung) and Shen (Kidney) group with predominance of anxiety,
irritation, white tongue coating, indicative tongue size, more thirst
and less sleep; 6 patients came under Wei (Stomach) and Fei (Lung)
group with, predominance of pale-yellow tongue coating, less thirst
and sleep with medium irritation. Points used mostly were Feishu
(BL13), Zhongfu(LU1), Hegu(LI4), Zusanli(ST36), Lieque(LU7) and
Taixi (KI3) in varied combinations.
Results: In the first two groups the prognosis was good and in the
last group the prognosis was medium.
Conclusion: The prognosis was based on the clinical condition especially
on the level of reduction in respiratory distress but not on the
level of Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1) which did not show any
change after the treatment. A recent report regarding the direct
correlation between an increased mortality rate and a high degree
of reversibility on the level of FEV1 after inhalation of bronchodialator
goes in favor of acupuncture in asthma. Through the multivariate
regression analysis the authors have determined the diagnostic potential
of the aforementioned traditional parameters.
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