Different trends of teeth marks according to qi blood yin yang deficiency pattern in patients with chronic fatigue

Abstract

IntroductionTongue diagnosis is a convenient and non-invasive method for examining the functional condition of the body. The presence of teeth marks (TMs) on the tongue surface indicates a swollen tongue and decreased resilience of the tongue surface. The aim of this study was to investigate whether teeth mark level (TML), a novel TM indicator, is useful for determining deficiency patterns (DPs) in patients with chronic fatigue (CF). MethodsIn total, 152 participants with CF were recruited. They were classified by two Korean medicine doctors (KMDs) into the following groups: qi deficiency (n=45), blood deficiency (n=37), yin deficiency (n=36), and yang deficiency (n=34). All the participants’ tongue images were obtained with a computerized tongue image analysis system after the diagnostic process. To objectively measure TMs, we calculated TMLs from the tongue images. ResultsDifferences in the TMLs among the DPs were analyzed with multiple linear regression analysis. The TMLs of the clay-tongue models showed a close relationship with the number and depth of the TMs (r=0.99 and 0.98, respectively). The TMLs showed different trends according to the DPs (P<0.05). Tukey's multiple comparisons test revealed that the TMLs were significantly lower in the yin deficiency group than in the blood deficiency group (P<0.01). ConclusionsThe close relationship between TML and the DPs suggests that TML has the potential to be used in clinics as a supplementary means to differentiate among syndromes in CF and to evaluate therapeutic effects and prognosis in CF.Trial registration: CRIS no. KCT0001199.