Lorna Kwai Ping Suen
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Keynote: J Diabetes Metab
The reflexive property of the ear can cause various physical attributes to appear on the auricle in the presence of bodily disorders. The association of auricular signals (presence or absence of discoloration, marks after pressing, tenderness and electrical resistance) and diabetes mellitus (DM) should be further examined because auricular diagnosis is an objective, painless and non-invasive method that provides rapid access to information. A matched case-control study on 282 subjects was conducted. Cases (n=141) were defined as those diagnosed with type-2 DM (T2DM). Every subject in the case group was matched with the control by age and gender. Ear diagnosis was conducted by visual inspection, electrical conductivity and tenderness testing. Results suggest that the tenderness and electrical conductivity of some auricular points, including pancreas and gallbladder; endocrine; kidney; lower tragus; heart and eyes, were associated with T2DM status in Chinese population. In the subgroup analyses, certain auricular signals were also associated with glycemic control, disease duration and related complications. Auricular diagnosis could be considered as a screening method for vulnerable populations with T2DM risk. Thus, appropriate interventions can be implemented to prevent or delay the progression of T2DM.
Lorna Kwai Ping Suen is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing and the Director of the Squina International Centre for Infection Control. Her research interests include complementary and alternative medicine, sleep studies as well as infection control. She has published 90 scientific articles in international refereed journals, over 60 conference abstracts and four book chapters. She has extensive experience in conducting randomized controlled trials using auriculotherapy in the clinical treatment of several chronic problems, including insomnia, low back pain, osteoarthritic knee and uncontrolled hypertension. She has interest in investigating the predictive value of auricular diagnosis and has recently completed several projects on identifying the relationship of auricular reflective points with the coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, lower urinary tract syndrome and metabolic syndrome. She is the Editorial Board Member of several international referred journals.
Email:lorna.suen@polyu.edu.hk
