| dc.description.abstract | Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a modality of therapy, has a long history of practice in ancient China and now still receives popularity in some Chinese communities worldwide. The result of TCM diagnostics has traditionally been expressed in “pattern” or syndrome in TCM. The terminology of TCM syndromes is not understandable to non-TCM personnel, nor is it well standardized. In an attempt to bridge the gap between TCM and modern western medicine, we analyzed a public medical insurance database in which a reimbursement item records 1) the disease in the International Classification of Diseases code, and 2) the prescription in government approved TCM formulas including 305 formulas and 435 herbs. We focused on the TCM outpatients with one of the four diseases in the database: neoplasms, diabetes, dementias, and Parkinson’s. By the method of unsupervised hierarchical clustering, we found that the TCM prescriptions to the three diseases separate into distinct groups. Moreover, among the neoplastic diseases, TCM prescriptions for benign neoplasms are different from those for malignant neoplasms. We identified and clustered the classes of TCM formulas and natures/flavors of TCM medicinals for individual diseases. For example, in addition to tonic, fire-quenching TCM formulas were prescribed to malignant neoplasms. The diabetic (neurodegenerative) were mainly treated with tonic and moisturizing (tranquilizing) TCM formulas. We found that medicinal natures/flavors complement formula’s classes, from prescription to prescription, suggesting a synergy in TCM prescription. The disease-specificity and herbal complementarity of TCM prescription may serve as a first step toward promotion and globalization of TCM prescriptions.
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