Objectives:
It is very important to diagnose Sasang constitution (SC) correctly. The aim of this study was to reveal the concordance and validity of the specialists in Sasang Constitutional Medicine (SCM).
Methods:
Three experts who had more than 5 years of experience and used more than 90% of Sasang Constitutional prescription in clinical practice of SCM participated in this study. The data composed of body shape, face, voice, temperament and physio-pathological symptoms were collected in the Korea Constitutional Multicenter Bank and 81 subjects’ data were extracted randomly. The experts reviewed all 81 subjects data independently. Kappa analysis were conducted.
Results:
1) The concordance was from 52.5% to 68.4% among three experts.
2) The validity between individual expert and gold standard was from 54.3% to 63% and Kappa were from 0.283 to 0.421.
3) The validity was from 68.5% to 70.7% when two or three experts agreed the Sasang constitution independently and 75.7% when all of experts agreed it.
Conclusions:
The concordance and validity of experts in SCM seems to be moderate. We think further study is needed. |
