Research article

A complementary method for detecting qi vacuity

Ming-Feng Chen^{* 1,4} , Hsi-Ming Yu^{* 2} , Shu-Fang Li^{* 3} and Ta-Jung You^{* 2}

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, No.542, Sec 1, Chung-Shang Rd, Changhua City, Taiwan

²Department of Chinese Medicine, Tzu-Ai General Hospital, Hsilo, Yulin County, Taiwan

³Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, Tainan Municipal Hospital, Tainan City, Taiwan

⁴Institute of Chinese Medicine Science, China Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2009, 9:12doi:10.1186/1472-6882-9-12

Published:	8 May 2009

Abstract

Background

Qi vacuity (QV) is defined by traditional Chinese medicine as a loss of energy in the human body. An objective method for detecting QV was not available until recently, however. The automatic reflective diagnosis system (ARDK) is a device that detects human bioenergy through measuring skin conductance at 24 special acupoints on the wrists and ankles.

Methods

This study used the ARDK to measure skin conductance on 193 patients with QV and 89 sex- and age-matched healthy controls to investigate whether the device is useful in detecting QV. Patients diagnosed with QV have three or more of five symptoms or signs; symptom severity is measured on 5 levels and scored from 0 to 4 points. We compared the difference in the mean ARDK values between patients with QV and healthy controls, and further used linear regression analysis to investigate the correlation between the mean ARDK values and QV scores in patients diagnosed with QV.

Results

The mean ARDK values in patients with QV (30.2 ± 16.8 μA) are significantly lower than those of healthy controls (37.7 ± 10.8 μA; P < 0.001). A negative correlation was found between the mean ARDK values and QV scores (r coefficient = -0.61; P < 0.001). After adjusting for age, the decreased mean ARDK values in patients with QV showed a significant correlation with the QV scores.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the mean ARDK values reflect the severity of QV in patients diagnosed with the disorder. They also suggest that the bioenergy level of the human body can be measured by skin conductance. ARDK is a safe and effective complementary method for detecting and diagnosing QV.