The use of a structured questionnaire to study stagnation syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine among adults living in community

Abstract

Objective: Traditional Chinese medicine stagnation syndrome is a prevalent syndrome characterized by mind-body obsession-1 ike symptoms. To standardize the evaluation of this syndrome, previous studies have developed and validated a 3-factor, 16-item Stagnation Scale with good psychometric properties. The current study aimed to survey stagnation syndrome among adults in community. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 755 adults recruited by cluster sampling in Hong Kong. Results: Using self-appraisal of symptom severity as reference, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis suggested an optimized cut-off point of 50 on the Stagnation Scale, with false positive and negative rates at 25.8% and 23.3%, respectively. Prevalence of stagnation syndrome was revealed at 6.2%. It is more prevalent in women, with a male to female ratio of 1:2.8 (P = 0.02). Stagnation showed significant negative correlation with age (r = -0.22, P<0.01). It showed non-significant correlation with marital status and education level. Among people with stagnation syndrome, 30.4% showed substantial intention to seek treatment (male: 25.0%; female: 32.4%). Conclusion: Stagnation syndrome seems to be prevalent among adults and shows a fairly high rate of motivation for people to seek treatment. The construct can be a useful entry point for healthcare interventions and warrants further in-depth studies. Limitations of using a structured questionnaire for epidemiological studies and corresponding remedies are discussed.