Prediction of deficiency-excess pattern in Japanese Kampo medicine: Multi-centre data collection

Abstract

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to compare important patient questionnaire items by creating a random forest model for predicting deficiency-excess pattern diagnosis in six Kampo specialty clinics. DesignA multi-centre prospective observational study. SettingParticipants who visited six Kampo specialty clinics in Japan from 2012 to 2015. Main outcome measureDeficiency-excess pattern diagnosis made by board-certified Kampo experts. MethodsTo predict the deficiency-excess pattern diagnosis by Kampo experts, we used 153 items as independent variables, namely, age, sex, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and 148 subjective symptoms recorded through a questionnaire. We extracted the 30 most important items in each clinic’s random forest model and selected items that were common among the clinics. We integrated participating clinics’ data to construct a prediction model in the same manner. We calculated the discriminant ratio using this prediction model for the total six clinics’ data and each clinic’s independent data. ResultsFifteen items were commonly listed in top 30 items in each random forest model. The discriminant ratio of the total six clinics’ data was 82.3%; moreover, with the exception of one clinic, the independent discriminant ratio of each clinic was approximately 80% each. ConclusionsWe identified common important items in diagnosing a deficiency-excess pattern among six Japanese Kampo clinics. We constructed the integrated prediction model of deficiency-excess pattern.