Study on the reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the abridged Vietnamese version of the Qi Blood Yin Yang Deficiency Pattern (QBYYDP) questionnaire on the elderly

Abstract

Background: The theory of Qi, blood, yin, and yang is one of the significant dialectics in the traditional practice of medicine in the elderly. Objective: Research on the reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the abridged Vietnamese version of the Qi Blood Yin Yang Deficiency Pattern (QBYYDP) questionnaire on the elderly. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 290 elderly who came for treatment at Thua Thien Hue Traditional Medicine Hospital. Result: The abridged Vietnamese version of the Qi Blood Yin Yang Deficiency Pattern (QBYYDP) questionnaire on the elderly consists of 27 questions (male: 26 questions and female: 27 questions) with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.895 (male) and 0.871 (female), the sensitivities Qi deficiency region, Blood deficiency region, Yin deficiency region, and Yang deficiency region were: 62.50%, 66.67%, 44.12%, 37.5% (male), 63.04% (female), respectively; the specificity 95.9%, 50.89%, 76.95%, 69.49% (male) and 75.74% (female), respectively, the area under the ROC curve of the questionnaires were > 0.6. Conclusion: The abridged Vietnamese version of the Qi Blood Yin Yang Deficiency Pattern (QBYYDP) questionnaire on the elderly with high consistency and reliability assessed through Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. The value of the Qi deficiency region has a high specificity and is distinguishable between two groups with diseased and non-diseased well. Although it is possible to take the Blood deficiency region, Yin deficiency region, and Yang deficiency region for clinical reference, the sensitivity and specificity are low, and the ability to distinguish the disease is moderate or poor. Key words: reliability, validity, questionnaire, Qi Blood Yin Yang deficiency pattern, the elderly.