Novel Diagnostic Algorithm for the Floating and Sunken Pulse Qualities and Its Clinical Test. (20th January 2011)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Jaeuk U.; Jeon, Young Ju; Lee, Yu Jung; Kim, Keun Ho; Kim, Jong Yeol
• Is Part Of: Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine. Volume 2011(2011)
• Publication Date: 2011-01-20
• Subjects: Alternative medicine -- Periodicals; 615.505
• DOI: 10.1155/2011/813427
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1741-427X

Abstract

Abstract : We propose a novel classification algorithm for the floating pulse and the sunken pulse using a newly defined coefficient (C fs ). To examine the validity of the proposed algorithm, we carried out a clinical test in which 12 oriental medical doctors made pairwise diagnoses on the pulses of volunteering subjects. 169 subjects were simultaneously diagnosed by paired doctors, and the diagnoses in 121 subjects were concordant, yielding an accuracy of 72% and a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.42, which indicates reasonable agreement between doctors. Two sample T -tests showed that subjects in the sunken pulse group had significantly higher BMI andC fs (P < .05 ) than those in the floating pulse group. The pulse classification by the algorithm converged with the diagnoses of paired doctors with an accuracy up to 69%. With these results, we confirm the validity of the novel classification algorithm for the floating and sunken pulses.