Disease spectrum analysis of soldiers in Traditional Chinese Medicine outpatient department of a military hospital in Hainan province

Background The island environment is unique, and the medical and health care needs of military personnel have not yet been systematically studied.

Objective To understand the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) disease spectrum among military personnel garrisoned on islands in Hainan province, and provide scientific evidences for the further development of TCM treatment suitable for the environment of reefs or islands.

Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on military personnel attending in TCM outpatient department of a military hospital in Hainan province from June 2018 to June 2019. The clinical data, including gender, age, attending date, Western medicine diagnosis and TCM diagnosis were collected. Western medicine diagnosis referred to ICD-10 and related catalog, and TCM diagnosis was based on classification and codes of diseases and patterns of TCM (TCD).

Results A total of 5 039 military personnel's medical treatment data were included, with an average age of (35.6 ± 13.4) years, predominantly male (88.35%) and under the age of 45 (81.13%) years. Western medicine diagnosis covered 15 categories in ICD-10 including neurological diseases and digestive diseases, with insomnia (20.66%), chronic gastritis (9.61%), and low back pain (5.56%) as the top 3 diseases. Insomnia (21.88%) was the most common disease in male patients, menstrual disorders (12.95%) in female patients, coronary heart disease (17.78%) in patients over 60 years, and insomnia in patients aged 45-60 years (14.35%) or under 45 years (22.53%). TCM diagnosis covered 5 categories, including internal medicine, surgery, otolaryngology, gynecology, and orthopedics, in ICD-10, with sleeplessness (20.66%), gastric stuffiness (10.82%), low back pain (5.89%) as the top 3 diseases. The internal medicine diseases (77.65%) were the most prevalent.

Conclusion The disease spectrum of TCM diagnosis of military personnel garrisoned on an island in Hainan province has a wide range but concentrate on neurological diseases (sleeplessness) and digestive diseases (gastric stuffiness). It is necessary to further improve the TCM medical support ability, in order to meet the diversified TCM health needs of military personnel garrisoned on islands.