Medical issues to consider for establishing the concept of Mibyeong

미병(未病)의 의학적 개념 정립을 위해 고려해야 할 주제들

Objectives Mibyeong is an ideological concept that means the state between the healthy and diseased conditions. The purpose of this study was to suggest a research direction to establish the diagnostic criteria for the Mibyeong by reviewing the research results for the Mibyeong. Methods Academic databases (OASIS for Korean database, Embase for English database, and CNKI for Chinese database) were used to search related literatures, and articles describing the concept or diagnostic criteria of the disease were selected. Results The concept of Mibyeong consisted of three different conditions: (1) subjective symptoms without a specific disease, (2) abnormal examination findings without a specific disease, and (3) a state in between health and disease. No matter which of the three conditions is applied, the spectrum of condition was very wide and diverse. Conclusions It is impossible to apply appropriate and monolithic diagnostic criteria to all types of Mibyeong. Therefore, we suggests that the Mibyeong be classified into several subtypes and the diagnostic criteria suitable for each type be established.