Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine

Background: In Ayurveda, pulse examination (nadipariksha) is an important tool to assess the status of three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha. Long historical use has been seen as a documentation of its efficacy; however, there is a lack of a quantitative measure of the reliability of the pulse examin...

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Main Authors: Vrinda Kurande, Rasmus Waagepetersen, Egon Toft, Ramjee Prasad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2013-09-01
Series:Integrative Medicine Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422013000498
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author Vrinda Kurande
Rasmus Waagepetersen
Egon Toft
Ramjee Prasad
author_facet Vrinda Kurande
Rasmus Waagepetersen
Egon Toft
Ramjee Prasad
author_sort Vrinda Kurande
collection DOAJ
description Background: In Ayurveda, pulse examination (nadipariksha) is an important tool to assess the status of three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha. Long historical use has been seen as a documentation of its efficacy; however, there is a lack of a quantitative measure of the reliability of the pulse examination method. The objective of this study was to test the intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in Ayurveda. Methods: Fifteen registered Ayurvedic doctors with 3–15 years of experience examined the pulse of 20 healthy volunteers twice, for a total of 600 examinations. The examinations were performed blind and in a random order. Only the current status of dosha-specific methods of pulse examination were considered. Cohen's weighted κ statistic was used as a measure of intrarater and interrater reliability, and a hypothesis of homogeneous diagnosis (random rating) was tested. Following this, we tested whether proportions of ratings were equal between doctors. Results: According to the Landis and Koch scale, the level of reliability ranged from poor to moderate. It was observed that the doctors more frequently diagnosed a combination of two doshas than a single dosha. The κ values were generally larger for experienced doctors (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Experience and proper training have important roles in pulse examination.
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spelling doaj-art-227eefac5ade4df48a481cfb5f80e4152025-08-20T02:04:13ZengElsevierIntegrative Medicine Research2213-42202013-09-0123899810.1016/j.imr.2013.07.001Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicineVrinda Kurande0Rasmus Waagepetersen1Egon Toft2Ramjee Prasad3Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DenmarkDepartment of Mathematical Sciences, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DenmarkMedical faculty, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DenmarkCenter for TeleInFrastruktur, Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DenmarkBackground: In Ayurveda, pulse examination (nadipariksha) is an important tool to assess the status of three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha. Long historical use has been seen as a documentation of its efficacy; however, there is a lack of a quantitative measure of the reliability of the pulse examination method. The objective of this study was to test the intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in Ayurveda. Methods: Fifteen registered Ayurvedic doctors with 3–15 years of experience examined the pulse of 20 healthy volunteers twice, for a total of 600 examinations. The examinations were performed blind and in a random order. Only the current status of dosha-specific methods of pulse examination were considered. Cohen's weighted κ statistic was used as a measure of intrarater and interrater reliability, and a hypothesis of homogeneous diagnosis (random rating) was tested. Following this, we tested whether proportions of ratings were equal between doctors. Results: According to the Landis and Koch scale, the level of reliability ranged from poor to moderate. It was observed that the doctors more frequently diagnosed a combination of two doshas than a single dosha. The κ values were generally larger for experienced doctors (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Experience and proper training have important roles in pulse examination.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422013000498AyurvedaDoshainterrater reliabilityintrarater reliabilitypulse examination
spellingShingle Vrinda Kurande
Rasmus Waagepetersen
Egon Toft
Ramjee Prasad
Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
Integrative Medicine Research
Ayurveda
Dosha
interrater reliability
intrarater reliability
pulse examination
title Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
title_full Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
title_fullStr Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
title_full_unstemmed Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
title_short Intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine
title_sort intrarater and interrater reliability of pulse examination in traditional indian ayurvedic medicine
topic Ayurveda
Dosha
interrater reliability
intrarater reliability
pulse examination
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422013000498
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AT rasmuswaagepetersen intraraterandinterraterreliabilityofpulseexaminationintraditionalindianayurvedicmedicine
AT egontoft intraraterandinterraterreliabilityofpulseexaminationintraditionalindianayurvedicmedicine
AT ramjeeprasad intraraterandinterraterreliabilityofpulseexaminationintraditionalindianayurvedicmedicine