Objective

2

To explore the typical syndromes and their characteristic of symptoms and signs with high diagnostic value in patients with metabolic syndrome （MS）.

Methods

2

Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） diagnostic information was collected from 135 MS patients. Syndrome element differentiation and latent class analysis （LCA） were applied to identify the major TCM syndromes in MS patients. Symptoms were analyzed based on the differentiated syndromes， and a binary logistic regression model was constructed to determine symptoms and signs with high diagnostic value.

Results

2

A total of 135 MS patients were included， involving 163 symptoms and signs with a total frequency of 1749； twenty-three syndrome elements were extracted， 367 times frequency in total， among which 8 syndrome elements occurred ≥10 times with 323 frequencies （88.01% of the total）. These included location-related elements such as kidney （48 times）， spleen （14 times）， and stomach （14 times）， and nature-related elements such as phlegm （71 times），

yin

deficiency （64 times）， dampness （57 times）， heat （42 times）， and

qi

deficiency （13 times）. Based on LCA， the 135 patients were categorized into two groups distinguished by the syndrome elements of dampness and phlegm， forming the "phlegm-dampness syndrome" as the major syndrome type. Nine high-frequency symptoms and signs associated with the phlegm-dampness syndrome were identified，i.e. obesity （39 times）， greasy coating （38 times）， slippery pulse （33 times）， white coating （31 times）， preference for fatty and heavy foods （30 times）， excessive urination （30 times）， fatigue and lack of strength （29 times）， wiry pulse （25 times）， and dark red tongue （25 times）. A binary logistic regression model was constructed combining these nine symptoms and signs with the LCA classification results， ultimately identifying obesity， greasy coating， fatigue and lack of strength， and white coating as independent factors associated with the phlegm-dampness syndrome

in MS patients （

P

＜0.05）.

Conclusion

2

The major TCM syndrome in MS patients is phlegm-dampness syndrome， and obesity， greasy coating， fatigue and lack of strength， and white coating are the typical symptoms and signs for diagnosing phlegm-dampness syndrome in MS patients.