OBJECTIVEIn Western medicine, hie (cold sensation) is thought as a subjective complaint. Consequently, despite women's complaints of health problems due to hie, such as distress and decreased quality of life, it is not diagnosed as a disease or given active treatment. However, hie sometimes requires emergency treatment or is a symptom of other disorders. Thus, diagnosing hie and eliminating distress due to hie are clinically significant. This research aimed to discriminate between hie and hiesho (cold disorder) and quantify hie by using objective assessments in addition to subjective assessments.

METHODSA questionnaire was administered to 159 healthy young women without any underlying disease that could cause hie, followed by assessment of vascular function. These data were examined through exploratory factor analysis, exploratory cluster analysis, and multivariate logistic analysis. Two- and three-group comparisons were made using the Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test, respectively, followed by multiple comparisons using Scheffé's method.

RESULTSThe hie (including hiesho) and normal groups comprised 81 (51%) and 78 (49%) subjects, respectively. The questionnaire was a low reliability screening method for determining the severity of hie symptoms. As an index of discrimination of hie and hiesho, we determined the toe-brachial index (TBI) to be 0.81 and toe systolic blood pressure (SBP) to be 87.73 mmHg with a linear function (TBI=0.007 5× toe SBP+0.152, adjusted R=0.829, F=388.79, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONToe SBP and TBI were suggested to be capable of discriminating and quantifying symptoms when used in combination with a questionnaire.