Determination of Sasang Constitution from Artery Pulse Waves

Abstract

Sasang Constitution data that were classified by the QSCCII (Questionnaire for the Sasang Constitution Classification II) and artery pulse waves of Chon, Guan, and Chuck data measured using an electronic manometer, were obtained from 732 subjects who visited an oriental hospital. The pulse width, peak height, and number of peaks were extracted from the pulse waves as feature variables. Validity and reliability analyses were performed to obtain the feature variables. The feature variables with high validity and reliability were selected as the discriminant variables. The pulse wave data were divided into training and predicting samples by applying a fivefold cross-validation technique. Discriminant analysis was performed for the training sample, and discriminant functions were obtained. The discriminant functions were applied to the predicting sample and the Sasang Constitution was predicted. The accuracy of prediction was estimated by comparing the predicted Sasang Constitution and that obtained by QSCCII. The accuracy of the predicted Sasang Constitution before (after) age and sex calibration was 73.6 % (70.4 %), 68.4 % (84.2 %), and 74.2 % (67.7 %) for Taeumin, Soumin, and Soyangin, respectively, and 72.5 % (73.8 %) in total.