Clinical Data Mining Related to the Japanese Kampo Concept “Hie” (Oversensitivity to Coldness) in Men and Pre- and Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

“Hie” is a subjective oversensitivity to cold and a condition experienced in 60% of Japanese citizens. The condition ofhiehas not been documented in Western medicine. However, in Kampo medicine,hieis an important target of treatment, because it has been considered one of the sources of all kinds of diseases. This study aimed to clarify the symptoms and findings associated withhieand contribute to increased precision inhiediagnosis. During 2005-2006, data from interviews of 1691 patients during their initial visit to the Kampo Clinic of Keio University Hospital were analyzed using a classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, a data mining technique. Symptoms and findings characteristic of each group are follows as, postmenopausal women: fatigability, absence of lower abdominal pain, and absence of hot flashes of feet: women with menstruation: leg swelling, knee pain, and abdominal pain; men: insomnia, leg weakness, and absence of excess saliva. From the perspective of Kampo medicine the result suggested that the feature ofhiecondition in postmenopausal women, women with menstruation, and men is statistically different.