Study to Develop the Pattern Identification Questionnaire for Alcoholic Hepatitis

I Alcoholic hepatitis is a serious liver disease that may lead to cirrhosis and carcinoma, and the short-term mortality rate is fairly high in severe patients. This study was conducted to develop the instrument of pattern identification for alcoholic hepatitis. We made the pattern identification questionnaire and symptoms indicator through reviewing traditional oriental medical literatures and got advices from the advisor committee with Delphi technique. The advisor committee on this study was organized by 10 professors of internal medicine of oriental medical colleges nationwide. The questionnaire was composed of questions about 6 pattern identification - dampness, heat, liver, spleen, cold and dryness. We gave importance to each symptoms of 6 pattern identification which had been scored on a 5-point scale. We surveyed two groups: 36 male alcoholic hepatitis patients whose Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test(AUDIT) scores were over 12 and who drank alcohol over 40 g per day were allocated to the hepatitis group. Forty three men who did not drink alcohol were allocated to the normal group. Alcoholic hepatitis had relativities to dampness, heat among cause of disease and liver, spleen among viscera. There were statistical significances between the hepatitis group and the normal group in dampness, heat, liver questionnaire. As a result of this study we suggest that the questionnaire would be effective instruments of pattern identification for alcoholic hepatitis.

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