Abstract
Diabetic state was analysed on the assumption that a functional state in a living system would be explained by the state of some functional units composing the total function of a living system.
The objects of this study were diabetic patients who newly visited the Second Department of Internal Medicine of Kobe University from 1965 to 1971.
At first, some statistical analysises for 94 patients were carried out with general raw clinical data consisting of 25 items. Then, 25 items were transformed into 16 items expecting to reveal a hidden meaning in raw data or to represent a reasonable meaning from a viewpoint of a control theory. One hundred and twenty three patients who completed the 16 items were studied similarly.
The 25 items used in these analysises were as follows. Sex, age, body height, body weight, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, FBS, double loading 50 g oral glucose tolerance test with a 2-hours interval between the 2 loads (6 points), urinary glucose excretion during GTT (first 2 hrs and second 2 hrs), serum total protein, serum total bilirubin, serum alkaline phosphatase, serum cholesterol, GOT, GPT, cobalt reaction, urine sugar, urine protein and findings of eye fundus. Whereas, in 16 items analysis, urine protein, urine sugar and findings of eye fundus were excluded, sex, body weight and body height were transformed into one item i. e. obesity index, and 6 GTT points were transformed into 3 items i. e. GTT 30 min-FBS, GTT 2hr-FBS and GTT 4hr-FBS and total urinary glucose excretion during GTT (sum of first and second 2 hrs) was used.
In both 25 items and 16 items, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, simple, partial and multiple correlation coefficients were calculated, and factor analysis method was used.
As the result of factor analysis, 7 factors were obtained. Next interpretations for each factor were available; factor which represents the state of 1) active carbohydrate metabolism, 2) passive carbohydrate metabolism, 3) vascular system, 4) liver cell function, 5) biliary passages function, 6) protein metabolism and 7) fat metabolism, respectively.
The results obtained from these analysises were not so different from the general diabetic concept. According to the results, some substantial diabetic problems were discussed. It is expected that such statistical analysis will shed new light on the clinical medicine and the study of biological mechanism.
