Radial artery pulse wave age-related assessment for diabetic patients based on multiple linear regression time domain analysis method

The global incidence of diabetes increases yearly. About 10 % of adults are affected. This study established a multiple linear regression (MLR) time domain analysis model of radial artery pulse wave characteristic parameters in CUN, GUAN and CHI based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to assess diabetes. Pulse signals of diabetic subjects were collected by a pulse instrument. The locations of CUN, GUAN and CHI were determined by a TCM practitioner, and all pulse signals were normalized. Measurement data from 100 male and 100 female patients were used to establish a new time domain analysis method for extracting pulse wave characteristic parameters called equal pressure pulse transit time (EP-PTT). For these mentioned samples, the EP-PTT is different for male and female diabetic subjects, it was smaller for male diabetic subjects than those of female diabetic subjects. EP-PTT₁ and EP-PTT₆ are relevant to predicting age based on CUN, GUAN and CHI signals, which showed a linear negative correlation (P < 0.05). The EP-PTT_i (i = 2, 3, 4) of female diabetic subjects are linearly correlated with age, and all of these are positively correlated (P < 0.05). These observations were clearly different from observations in healthy controls. The pulse waveform of CUN, GUAN and CHI of diabetic subjects can explore the relationship between the age of diabetic subjects and EP-PTT. The preliminary findings will provide foundational data for type 2 diabetes assessment based on CUN, GUAN and CHI pulse signals of radial artery, and the proposed new analysis method can be used for assessing type 2 diabetes.