Correlation between blood urea nitrogen level and Traditional Chinese Medicine syndromes in sepsis patients

Wenting TANG; Xiyin HUANG; Qingda PENG; Jun LI; Jian LI

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To explore the characteristics of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes in sepsis patients with different blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels.

Methods:

From January 2017 to December 2018, 252 sepsis patients, who were admitted in the Department of Intensive Care Unit of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine) and met the inclusion criteria, were divided into lower level group (BUN<9.25 mmol/L) and higher level group (BUN≥9.25 mmol/L) according to BUN levels. The baseline data, complications, infection sites and other data were collected. TCM syndromes were judged according to the four diagnostic information of TCM and BUN levels. Variables with P<0.2 in univariate analysis were introduced as candidate variables, and the correlation between TCM syndrome elements and BUN was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.

Results:

The comparison of TCM syndromes showed that the proportion of blood stasis syndrome in higher level group was significantly higher than that of the lower level group [74.60% (94/126) vs. 53.17% (67/126), P<0.01)], and the proportion of toxic heat syndrome in the higher level group was significantly lower than that of the lower level group [52.38% (66/126) vs. 65.87% (83/126), P=0.029]. The comparison of TCM deficiency syndromes showed that the proportion of qi deficiency syndrome and yang deficiency syndrome in the higher level group was significantly higher than that of the lower level group [67.46% (85/126) vs. 45.24% (57/126), P<0.01; 11.90% (15/126) vs. 3.97% (5/126), P=0.032, respectively]. Logistic regression analysis showed that the higher blood urea nitrogen level was correlated with the increased incidence of qi deficiency syndrome ( OR=3.425, 95% CI 1.934-6.068, P<0.01), yang deficiency syndrome ( OR=3.460, 95% CI 1.160-10.325, P=0.026) and kidney deficiency syndrome ( OR=2.212, 95% CI 1.173-4.173, P=0.014) in sepsis patients.

Conclusion:

Sepsis patients with higher blood urea nitrogen level have a higher proportion of blood stasis syndrome, qi deficiency syndrome and yang deficiency syndrome and may be related to the increased incidence of qi deficiency syndrome, yang deficiency syndrome and kidney deficiency syndrome.