Eploration of symptom inventory about tumor and traditional Chinese medicine

Objective: Based on M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), we combined with symptom items of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we validated and amended the adaptive model of MDASI-TCM. The objective is to research the quantitive methods on measuring cancer symptoms in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Methods: We used the MDASI and added more TCM items, amended it as an adaptive model, MDA-SI-TCM. A multi-center, cross-sectional study using a convenience sample of 340 patients was conducted in 4 hospitals in China. Data was set up in Epidata and Statistical analysis were performed with SPSS and Excel software. Results: The most common symptoms were fatigue 89.4%, sleep disturbance 74.4%, dry mouth 72.9%, poor appetite 72.9%, and difficulty memory 71.2%. These symptoms affected work (89.7%), mood (82.6%), and activity (78.6%), severely impacting quality of life. We detected the symptom inventory with Cronbach's a score indicated that there was acceptable internal consistency, MDASI-TCM (23 items) MDASI, 0.862 for MDASI, 0.781 for TCM. Conclusions: The MDASI-TCM has high reliability not only on the evaluating and measuring the incidence and severity in common cancer symptoms but also in Traditional Chinese medicine. It has a promising future to be a quantitive tool on measuring symptoms in Traditional Chinese Medicine.