Development of normative data of electro photonic imaging technique for healthy population in India: A normative study

BACKGROUND: Electro photonic imaging (EPI) technique is growing as a novel technique of health assessment and is being utilized in the fields of alternative medicine, conventional practices, psycho-physiology, psychology, and consciousness studies. The existing EPI norms are based mostly on European (EU) population. In order to enhance the practice and research through EPI in India, there is a need for developing norms for the healthy Indian population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to establish the normative data of EPI for the healthy Indian population, to aid in the accuracy of EPI measurements and interpretations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1297 volunteers were assessed once, who represented different parts of India during December 2013 to December 2014. Among them, 880 volunteers were reported to be healthy (age mean ± standard deviation [SD], 33.55 ± 10.92), with 584 males (age mean ± SD, 33.54 ± 10.86) and 296 females (age mean ± SD, 33.56 ± 11.00). In this study activation coefficient (stress level), integral area (IA) (general health), and integral entropy (disorderliness in energy) parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: As the data were not normally distributed, quartile based statistics was used for setting the norms. The 25(th) and 75(th) percentiles were calculated and they were further verified using a bootstrap procedure. Uniquely, the results showed a clear difference in IA parameters under both with filter (physiological) and without filter (psycho-physiological) conditions between the Indian and the EU population. Though other parameters were found almost similar to the EU population, inter quartile ranges were narrower in the Indian population as compared to the EU values. Similar trends were observed in the subgroup analyzes: That is, male versus female genders and age ranges 18–40 versus 40-60. CONCLUSION: As compared to EU population, Indian population had different range of Integral Area values and narrower range for values of other variables. EPI Studies in India should also adjust for factors such as age and gender.