The approval of the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) has for the first time included a chapter about traditional medicines that includes TCM. Disease weight (DW) is a weight coefficient that quantifies the health loss caused by non-fatal diseases and injuries, and is an important parameter to measure the burden of disease.

Based on the traditional medicine chapter of ICD-11, this study investigates the DW of wasting thirst disorder, which provides a reference for the measurement of TCM disease burden, and lays a foundation for establishing a statistical network that is consistent with international standards and reflects TCM health service information.

From June 1, 2020 to June 1, 2021, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) method was adopted to conduct a survey on the DW of each lower category of wasting thirst disorder among clinical Chinese medicine practitioners and healthy people. The EQ-5D-3L with VAS scale was adopted to conduct a DW survey among patients. In addition, the survey results were demonstrated with expert intentions.

The survey on DW of wasting thirst disorder among TCM practitioners shows that the DWs were 0.300 (0.185, 0.380) for wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, 0.430 (0.368, 0.568) for wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, 0.585 (0.510, 0.738) for wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and 0.725 (0.660, 0.908) for consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder. The survey on DW of wasting thirst disorder among patients shows that the VAS conversion weights of patients were 0.310 (0.225, 0.373) for diabetes involving the upper-jiao, 0.395 (0.335, 0.453) for wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, 0.445 (0.360, 0.513) for wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and 0.590 (0.550, 0.698) for consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder;the investigator assigned weights are 0.152 (0, 0.311) for wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, 0.240 (0, 0.275) for wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, 0.380 (0.186, 0.622) for wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and 0.484 (0.311, 0.814) for consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder. The survey on DW of wasting thirst disorder among healthy people shows that the DWs were 0.210 (0.150, 0.390) for wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, 0.345 (0.260, 0.510) for wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, 0.425 (0.313, 0.748) for wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and 0.640 (0.380, 0.898) for consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder. There were significant differences between the DWs by different methods of wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder (H=153.883, 76.561, 34.575, 74.014, P<0.001). There were significant differences between VAS DW for traditional Chinese medicine practitioner survey, patient VAS conversion DW, investigator assignment DW, and VAS DW for healthy population survey involved by three jiao of wasting thirst disorder and consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder (H=10.543, 35.692, 19.924, 16.327, P<0.05). Through expert intention argumentation, the method of calculating DWs for wasting thirst disorder according to the classification of wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder under the standardized framework was agreed upon. Experts qualitatively agreed that the DW of wasting thirst disorder involving the upper-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the middle-jiao, wasting thirst disorder involving the lower-jiao, and consciousness loss caused by wasting thirst disorder gradually increased. And they basically agreed with the DW in the investigation of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

A preliminary exploration was conducted to investigate the DW of wasting thirst disorder, using the VAS method and the EQ-5D-3L, based on the ICD-11 chapter on traditional medicine and the national standards of traditional Chinese medicine, providing a reference for calculating the burden of traditional Chinese medicine diseases. The research results have been supported by expert intention analysis. The DW of wasting thirst disorder in Guangzhou is relatively heavy, and attention should be paid to the loss of healthy life years caused by disability in wasting thirst disorder, to improve the quality of life of patients.