[Measurement study of disease differentiation treatment based on standard syndrome differentiation].

The basic premise of syndrome essence discussion is the standardization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome type. However, there still exists confusion regarding the standardization of TCM syndrome differentiation treatment, and the guidelines for TCM syndrome differentiation could not really be used for guiding clinical treatment. This is mainly due to the inappropriate use of research ideas and methods. The fundamental research of TCM syndrome based on the differentiation and classification of diseases is the main method for studying the standardization of TCM syndrome type. The accuracy quantification of symptoms is the powerful guarantee for authenticity and reliability of the results from standardization study of syndrome type. The correct choice for statistical methods gives powerful technical support to determine the differentiation threshold. The unified scales, expert discussions and complex scientific theories are the best methods for current research on standardization of syndrome type. The correlation study of syndrome type and physicochemical indexes cannot reflect the syndrome type completely. It is supposed to establish the treatment principles according to the main pathological changes of diseases on the basis of the standardization of TCM syndrome differentiation.

[Evaluation on methodological problems in reports concerning quantitative analysis of syndrome differentiation of diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of reports published in recent 10 years in China about quantitative analysis of syndrome differentiation for diabetes mellitus (DM) in order to explore the methodological problems in these reports and find possible solutions. METHODS: The main medical literature databases in China were searched. Thirty-one articles were included and evaluated by the principles of clinical epidemiology. RESULTS: There were many mistakes and deficiencies in these articles, such as clinical trial designs, diagnosis criteria for DM, standards of syndrome differentiation of DM, case inclusive and exclusive criteria, sample size and estimation, data comparability and statistical methods. CONCLUSION: It is necessary and important to improve the quality of reports concerning quantitative analysis of syndrome differentiation of DM in light of the principles of clinical epidemiology.