A Real-World Data Analysis of The Distribution of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndromes and Their Elements Among Bronchiectasis Patients

Abstract

Introduction: We sought to investigate the distribution of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes and their elements among bronchiectasis patients using real-world data. Methods: A real-world study was performed to explore the relationship between TCM syndrome and bronchiectasis using electronic medical information from 1,113 patients in China. Factor analyses were used to reduce the dimensions of TCM syndrome elements and to detect common factors. Additionally, cluster analyses were employed to assess combinations of TCM syndrome elements. Finally, association rule analyses were performed to investigate the structures of TCM syndrome elements in order to estimate the patterns of TCM syndromes.Results: A total of 17 TCM syndrome elements were extracted using this method. There were four Shi TCM syndromes of Tan_Re_Yong_Fei (36.39%), Tan_Zhuo_Zu_Fei (12.94%), Gan_Huo_Fan_Fei (11.59%), and Feng_Re_Fan_Fei (11.32%) with >5.0% distribution frequency in total sample. The highest Xu TCM syndrome was Fei_Yin_Xu (18.24%). Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and association rule analysis found that Tan, Huo, Feng, Yin_Xu, Fei, and Gan were the core TCM syndrome elements.Conclusion: In this study, TCM Shi syndromes of Tan_Re_Yong_Fei, Tan_Zhuo_Zu_Fei, Gan_Huo_Fan_Fei, and Feng_Re_Fan_Fei were detected with a high frequency among bronchiectasis patients using real-world data, as was the TCM core Xu syndrome of Fei_Yin_Xu. The core elements of Huo, Tan, Feng, Yin_Xu, Fei and Gan were found across the entire sample.