The Principles of Acupoint Selection in Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease Based on Data Mining

OBJECTIVE To excavate the principles of acupoint selection for coronary artery disease (CAD) by using statistics and data mining methods. METHODS The literatures meeting the inclusive criteria on CAD were collected from three major Chinese database and PubMed database from 1991 to 2013. With these literatures， we collected data of acupoints for CAD treatment and then did descriptive analysis， association analysis and clustering analysis to the data. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the number of papers published in 1991-2013. Neiguan (PC6)， Xinshu (BL15)， and Danzhong (RN17) were listed as the top three acupionts with the highest frequency of application. The correlation analysis showed that Neiguan (PC6) and Xinshu (BL15) had the highest correlativity. The clustering analysis figured out the key acupoints group and optional acupoints group. CONCLUSION The study discussed the principles of acupoint selection in the treatment of CAD， at least partly suggesting the principles for clinical application of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment on coronary artery diseases.