OBJECTIVETo investigate the distribution pattern of TCM syndrome in patients with IgA nephropathy and its relationship with the main clinical prognostic indexes to provide a basis for the standardization of integrative medicine in diagnosis and treatment of IgA nephropathy.

METHODSMulti-centeric epidemiological field survey was adopted to collect the materials of 1016 IgA nephropathic patients, including demography, TCM syndrome and laboratory findings, for exploring the distribution pattern of TCM syndrome of IgA nephropathy patients.

RESULTSProbability of over 10% could be found in the TCM syndromes as yin deficiency, qi deficiency, yang deficiency, damp-heat and blood stasis syndrome, the highest (41.5%) was found in qi-yin deficiency syndrome and the lowest (8.1%) in yang deficiency of Pi and Shen. Along with the increasing of age, the percentage of patients with Pi-Fei qi asthenia syndrome descended while those with Pi-Shen yang asthenia ascended. In the accompanying syndromes, damp-heat syndrome and blood stasis syndrome, with the proportion of 32.6% and 28.9% respectively, were the most frequently encountered. The levels of 24 h urinary protein, serum creatinine and urea nitrogen in patients with Pi-Fei qi asthenia syndrome, qi-yin deficiency syndrome and Gan-Shen yin asthenia syndrome were significantly lower than those in patients with Pi-Shen yang asthenia syndrome, respectively (P < 0.05), while the blood pressure in patients with Pi-Fei qi asthenia syndrome, and qi-yin deficiency syndrome were significantly lower than that in patients with Gan-Shen yin asthenia syndrome and Pi-Shen yang asthenia syndrome (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONQi-asthenia and yin deficiency is the principal clinical manifestation of IgA nephropathy. TCM syndrome types are closely related with the prognostic indexes as urine protein, hypertension, renal lesion, etc.