Study on the characteristics of syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine for diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Objective: To investigate the characteristics and the correlative factors of traditonal Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome in diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN).Methods: Casebooks of 450 patients with DPN were recorded and arranged,then classified by unified criteria of traditional Chinese medicine as syndromes of Qi-deficiency,Yin-deficiency,Yang-deficiency,blood-stasis,phlegm-dampness,Qi-depression.Results:Frequency of the first three single syndrome were Blood-stasis syndrome(70.89%),Yin-deficiency syndrome(64.89%),Qi-deficiency syndrome(57.33%).The principal syndrome were compounded TCM syndrome patterns(89.11%),the main type of which was mixture of asthenia and sthenia(89.78%).Deficiency of both Yin and Yang combined with blood stasis(23.44%) was the most common syndrome.On the side of deficiency syndrome,there was a significant difference in constituent ratio of TCM syndrome patterns(P0.05).The incidence of blood-stasis combined with phlegm-dampness pattern was relatively high(17.77%-28.00%) in each group,but there was no significant difference between them.In the group of more than 10 years course,the most common syndrome was Yin and Yang deficiency combined with blood-stasis and/or phlegm-dampness(34.16%).Analysis of Logistic regression indicated that age,symptoms of peripheral neuropathy,needling pain,course of disease,level of diastolic blood pressure were risk factors of Yin and Yang deficiency syndrome.Conclusion: The vital TCM pathogenesis in DPN is blood stasis.As later stage of DPN,deficiency of both Yin and Yang began to play an important role.