[Investigation and confirmatory factor analysis of information collected with the four diagnostic methods in patients with bronchial asthma].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the information acquired through the four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine in patients with bronchial asthma, and to classify the syndrome types. METHODS Four hundred and thirty patients with bronchial asthma were randomly investigated. The information acquired through the four diagnostic methods was recorded and the database was established by Amos software, and then the data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS After analyzing the data with 4 factors, 5 factors and 6 factors, we found that the results of CFA with 6 factors were in accordance with clinical practical experience. CONCLUSION According to the results of CFA with 6 factors and with the standard regression coefficient 0.4 as primary and secondary critical points, the syndromes in patients with bronchial asthma can be classified into 5 types, which are syndromes of cold fluid retained in lung, phlegm-heat obstructing lung, wind-phlegm blocking lung, qi deficiency of lung and kidney and qi deficiency of spleen.