VALIDATION OF TRADITIONAL SIDDHA ANTHROPOMETRIC DIAGNOSTIC METHODOLOGY MAṆIKKAṬAI-NŪL- AN OBSERVATIONAL FIELD STUDY

Maṇikkaṭai-nūl (MK) is an exclusive diagnostic method particular to Siddha Medicine, where the subject’s Finger breadths (FB) calculated from the Antebrachial circumference (ABC) is accessed for predicting the symptom, disease, or the pathological sequence. The present observational field studies (Study 1 & 2) aim to validate the clinical significance of MK as a reliable diagnostic tool.  True positive (T+), False positive (F+) and False negative (F-) predictions were evaluated in study 1 (n=116). Three divisional trials were done in study 2 that assessed the correlation of MK readings with Antebrachial circumference (ABC) (n₁=117), ABC, total fingerbreadth (TFB) (n₂=27), and Body Mass Index (BMI), and ABC. (n3=23). Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the association between different parameters based on a 95% confidence interval. The differences were considered significant at a P-value of <0.05. A Scatter plot was used to study the pattern of association. From the study (n =116), the T+ cases were 97 (83.62 %) and 16 cases (13.79%) were not relevant (F+ & F-). For the second study (n=167), based on Pearson Correlation, there was statistically significant linear relationship between ABC and MK (n₁=117) and moderate (.5 < | r | < .7) association between TFB & ABC. In study (n₃=23), a statistically significant linear relationship in the three combinations, i.e., between BMI & ABC (r =0.690, P<0.001), BMI& MK (r=0.742, P<0.001) and ABC & MK (r=.666, P=0.001) were observed. The studies validated the clinical reliability of MK.