[Application of multivariate statistical analysis and thinking in quality control of Chinese medicine]

The study of quality control of Chinese medicine has always been the hot and the difficulty spot of the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is also one of the key problems restricting the modernization and internationalization of Chinese medicine. Multivariate statistical analysis is an analytical method which is suitable for the analysis of characteristics of TCM. It has been used widely in the study of quality control of TCM. Multivariate Statistical analysis was used for multivariate indicators and variables that appeared in the study of quality control and had certain correlation between each other, to find out the hidden law or the relationship between the data can be found,.which could apply to serve the decision-making and realize the effective quality evaluation of TCM. In this paper, the application of multivariate statistical analysis in the quality control of Chinese medicine was summarized, which could provided the basis for its further study.