ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1605310
This article is part of the Research TopicTraditional Chinese Medicine Strategies for Preventing and Treating Reproductive Endocrine Disorders Caused by Various FactorsView all 9 articles
Spatial, Temporal and Demographic Distribution Characteristics of Adenomyosis Symptom Clusters from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Multicenter Cross-sectional Study in China from 2020 to 2022
Provisionally accepted
- Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
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Objective ： This study aimed to explore the differences in symptom clusters of adenomyosis (AM) patients across spatial, temporal, and age-stratified dimensions based on the "Treatment in Accordance with Three Categories of Etiologic Factors" theory. Methods：A cross-sectional study was conducted in China from 2020 to 2022, involving 1,816 AM patients. Univariate analysis, symptom co-occurrence matrices, and hierarchical clustering were used to compare clinical and symptom cluster characteristics across different latitudes (low latitude area: 691 cases vs. high latitude area: 1,125 cases), seasons (warm: 652 cases vs. cold: 473 cases), and age groups (<40 years: 895 cases vs. ≥40 years: 921 cases). Results：AM symptom clusters exhibited significant geographical, seasonal, and age-related variations, with "Blood Stasis Syndrome" as the core pathological mechanism. In the spatial dimension, the high latitude region exhibited a "syndrome of Cold Coagulation" characterized by cold intolerance (co-occurrence frequency: 3,973), treated by warming Yang and dispersing cold. The low latitude region displayed a "Spleen-Qi Deficiency and Blood Stasis" marked by fatigue (co-occurrence frequency: 2,492), treated by invigorating the spleen and supplementing Qi. In the temporal dimension, during cold seasons, cold intolerance (co-occurrence frequency: 2,029) reinforced the "Cold Coagulation", treated by warming Yang and dispersing cold. In warm seasons, sweating had the highest cooccurrence frequency (2,054), suggesting a "Dampness" component, treated by invigorating the spleen to resolve dampness. In the age dimension, younger patients exhibited a "Cold Coagulation and Blood Stasis with Liver Qi Stagnation" with cold intolerance as the core symptom (co-occurrence frequency: 2,121), accompanied by irritability (39.66%) and premenstrual irritability (34.30%), treated by warming Yang, dispersing cold, and soothing the liver to regulate Qi. Elder patients displayed a "Qi Deficiency and Blood Stasis" pattern with fatigue as the core symptom (co-occurrence frequency: 2,121), accompanied by menorrhagia (40.28%), treated by supplementing Qi and nourishing blood. Conclusion：Integrating TCM theory with data mining techniques, this study established a "time-space-human" three-dimensional syndrome differentiation model for AM, providing a critical framework for advancing precision medicine in TCM gynecology.
Keywords: ：Adenomyosis, spatial, Temporal, demographic, symptom clusters
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Tao, Fu, Yang and Rui-hua. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhao Rui-hua, Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
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