Basic Tongue Diagnosis Indicators for Pattern Identification in Stroke Using a Decision Tree Method

Lee, Ju Ah; Lee, Jungsup; Ko, Mi Mi; Kang, Byoung-Kab; Lee, Myeong Soo; Lee, Ju Ah; Lee, Jungsup; Ko, Mi Mi; Kang, Byoung-Kab; Lee, Myeong Soo

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

J Korean Med. 2012;33(4): 1-8.

Basic Tongue Diagnosis Indicators for Pattern Identification in Stroke Using a Decision Tree Method

Ju Ah Lee¹, Jungsup Lee², Mi Mi Ko¹, Byoung-Kab Kang¹, and Myeong Soo Lee¹

¹Medical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea
²Korean National Rehabilitation Center, Seoul, South Korea

Received: July 2, 2012; Accepted: October 15, 2012.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to specify major tongue diagnostic indicators and evaluate their significance in discriminating pattern identification subtypes in stroke patients.
Methods: This study used a community based multi-center observational design. Participants (n=1,502) were stroke patients admitted to 11 oriental medical university hospitals between December 2006 and February 2010. To determine which tongue indicator affected each pattern identification, a decision tree analysis of the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) algorithm was performed. The chi-squared test was used as the criterion in splitting data with a p-value less than 0.05 for division, which is the main procedure for developing a decision tree. The minimum sample size for each node was specified as n =10, and branching was limited to two levels.
Results: From the 9 tongue diagnostic indicators, 6 major tongue indicators (red tongue, pale tongue, yellow fur, white fur, thick fur, and teeth-marked tongue) were identified through the decision tree analysis. Furthermore, each pattern identification was composed of specific combinations of the 6 major tongue indicators.
Conclusions: This study suggests that the 6 tongue indicators identified through the decision tree analysis can be used to discriminate pattern identification subtypes in stroke patients. However, it is still necessary to re-evaluate other pattern identification indicators to further the objectivity and reliability of traditional Korean medicine.

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