Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine Symptoms in Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy, a Protocol for Data Mining

Abstract

Background

Cerebral palsy (CP) is characterized by abnormal pronunciation, posture, and movement. Clinically, CP can be categorized into various motor syndromes, including spastic hemiplegia, diplegia, quadriplegia, involuntary movement, ataxia, and mixed types. Among these, spastic CP represents over 70–80% of all CP cases. The primary objective of our study is to identify the top and core Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) symptoms and analysis their association rules in children with spastic cerebral palsy, thereby enhancing the theoretical foundations of TCM treatment on spastic CP.

Methods

The study will be conducted on children aged 4 to 14 years with spastic CP who are undergoing treatment at Xi’an Encephalopathy Hospital Affiliated to Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine. Basic information about the patients and their TCM symptoms will be collected on the first day of admission. This information will include age, gender, birth history, family history, disease classification, and TCM symptoms (including symptoms, tongue, and pulse). Once the data is collected, it will be exported from the electronic medical record system for further analysis. Descriptive statistics will be performed using Excel 2019, while exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis will be conducted using SPSS Statistics 22. Additionally, association rule analysis will be carried out using SPSS Modeler 18.

Results

This study will investigate the most top TCM symptoms in children with spastic CP and explore the association rules between these symptoms, mapping the presentation of spastic CP onto symptoms identified within TCM.

Conclusion

Our findings will provide the distinctive characteristics of TCM symptoms in children with spastic CP, furnishing evidence-based support to clinicians and patients in making well-informed decisions collaboratively.

Keywords:

• cerebral palsy
• TCM symptoms
• data mining
• descriptive statistics
• association rule analysis
• exploratory factor analysis
• cluster analysis

Patient and Public Involvement

Patients and/or the public were not engaged in the design, conduct, reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

Consent to Participate

As a data mining protocol, this study will not involve specific patient information. Hence, an exemption from the requirement of patient parental consent has been granted by the ethics committee. However, the study will strictly adhere to all principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

The Real-World Clinical Research on Spastic Cerebral Palsy, Research Project on Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (GZY-KJS-2020-003) and Construction Project of “Sanqin” Scholar TCM Encephalopathy Innovation Team, Shaanxi Province.