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KMID : 0363320150360030348
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Journal of Korean Oriental Internal Medicine
2015 Volume.36 No. 3 p.348 ~ p.360
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Trends in Tongue Color and Heart Rate Variability in Chronic Dyspepsia Patients
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Kim Ji-Hye
Jung Chang-Jin
Kim Keun-Ho
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Abstract
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Objectives: From observing the tongue of a patient, one can assess the health status; this method has been frequently used in traditional Korean Medicine (KM) clinics. In particular, KM posits that the color of the tongue is highly related to digestive functions. In this study, the color of tongue and heart rate variability (HRV) were compared between chronic dyspepsia (CD) patients and healthy subjects.
Methods: Healthy subjects and CD patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or chronic gastritis (CG) were enrolled for the study. Profile view images of the tongue were acquired by using a computerized tongue image acquisition system (CTIS). The color of the tongue body was extracted from the non-coated region on the tongue images.
Results: Color differences in CIE L*a*b* color space between the three sub-types of CD patients and healthy subjects were analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis with age and sex as the factors. The variable b* was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.017). Variable a* was significantly lower in CG than in the controls (p=0.03). No significant difference was seen between FD and controls. In GERD, the tongue body seems to be intense red in color; in CG, pale red. Frequency domain analysis showed that HF was significantly lower in GERD patients than in the controls (p=0.041).
Conclusions: The color of the tongue body and HF of HRV can be used for diagnosing digestive functions in health care.
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KEYWORD
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functional dyspepsia, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), chronic gastritis, heart rate variability (HRV), tongue diagnosis
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