| ObjectiveComparing the meridian energy characteristics of diabetic nephropathy patients with those of healthy people, diabetes mellitus patients and patients diagnosed as other chronic kidney disease, to observe and explore the meridian energy manifestations or imbalance of diabetic nephropathy, which may provide some helpful evidences for the rationality of collateral disease theory applying into the treatment of diabetic nephropathy in TCM.Methods1. Research design:cross-sectional study.2. Ethical review:this research has passed the ethical review by the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM Ethical Review Committee. The ethical approval document number is B2015-154-01.3. Recruiting, screening and included of patients:research mainly included patients with diabetic nephropathy and other chronic kidney diseases from the nephrology and endocrinology department and of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM from August,2015 to February,2016. The datum of diabetes mellitus and healthy people were screened from the data base started by the Identification of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health and Disease Prevention research groups.4. Meridian detection:the meridian detector bioelectricity acquisition system (DMS) was applied to collect and record the datum of the Yuan and Jing points, the meridian energy index (average meridian energy), the ratio of Yin and Yang mridian, the ratio of upper body and lower limb meridian and the ratio of left and right side meridian.5. Data analysis:Classification variables such as gender,presence of complications were compared using chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test. The comparison of continuous variables such as BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, four main outcome measures and energy of single meridian were normally distributed after the data transformation, indicated by mean± standard deviation, using the t test in group comparison while variables not normally distributed, indicated by the median and interquartile range, using nonparametric rank and inspection to compare. The correction of some confounding factors such as age, BMI was performed by logistic regression analysis. The P value＜0.05 is regarded as having statistical difference. In the single meridian and the six-channel analysis were shown by the means of the Yuan point in the form of radar chart.Results1. Each group was ultimately included 30 cases:healthy volunteers with 13 males and 17 females, aging 51.43±7.37, diabetes millitus group with 12 males and 18 females, aging 60.70±7.97, non-diabetic chronic kidney disease group with 13 males and 17 females, aging 49.33±4.73 while diabetic nephropathy group with 13 males and 17 females, aging 61.20±.03.2. The mean value of the meridian energy index of the Yuan points from the healthy group was 39.20±13.77 and diabetes mellitus group was 42.29±15.47 while non-diabetic CKD group was 32.85±12.28 and diabetic nephropathy group was 21.40±14.39. The differences between diabetic nephropathy group and other groups were discovered statistically significant (P＜0.05) after age and BMI correction.3. The mean value of the meridian energy index of the Jing points from the healthy group was 37.48±3.29 and diabetes mellitus group was 30.86±9.86 while non-diabetic CKD group was 28.71±11.03 and diabetic nephropathy group was 18.62±11.88. The adjusted differences between diabetic nephropathy group and other groups were discovered statistically significant(P＜0.05).4. The ratio of Yin and Yang meridian of Yuan points in healthy group was 1.26±0.22 and 1.02±0.18 in diabetes mellitus group while 1.11±0.19 in non-diabetic CKD group and 1.03±0.22 in diabetic nephropathy group. The adjusted difference between diabetic nephropathy group and healthy group was statistically significant (P＜0.05).5. The ratio of upper body and lower limb meridian of Yuan points in healthy group was 0.91±0.29 and 1.16±0.28 in diabetes mellitus group while 1.02 ±0.46 in non-diabetic CKD group and 0.92±0.41 in diabetic nephropathy group. The adjusted difference between diabetic nephropathy group and diabetes mellitus group was statistically significant(P＜0.05).6. The ratio of upper body and lower limb meridian of Yuan points in healthy group was 1.12±0.41 and 0.86±0.12 in diabetes mellitus group while 0.85 ±0.20 in non-diabetic CKD group and 0.84±0.17 in diabetic nephropathy group. The adjusted difference between diabetic nephropathy group and healthy group was statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion1. Compared with healthy people, the meridian energy was significantly lower in patients with diabetic nephropathy, especially in the Large Intestine and the Triple-Warmer Channel, which reveals that diabetic nephropathy patients have obvious deficiency in body function. In the clinical treatment of DN, in addition to reinforcing the spleen and nourishing the kidney, we should pay attention to dredge and nurse the collaterals, especially those of the Large Intestine and the Triple-Warmer Channel, and drive out the evil influences harmful to the channels to resume the smooth streaming of body fluid and cereal nutrients.2. Diabetic patients have much higher energy in Yangming and Taiyin meridian while diabetic nephropathy patients have relatively low energy in Yangming and Shaoyang meridian, which shows us that diabetic nephropathy can be regarded as the stage of the Shaoyin disease in the diabetes mellitus progression with age and insufficiency of energy and maybe the key to prevent diabetic nephropathy is the effective treatments in the early stage of diabetes mellitus while the vital qi is sufficient.3. The similarity of the meridian energy characteristics between diabetic nephropathy and other chronic kidney disease, low energy of Large Intestine and the Triple-Warmer Channel, reflects that all chronic kidney diseases have obstacles in the streaming of body fluid and cereal nutrients and share some similar pathogenesis and progression in TCM. |
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