Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
School of Postbaccalaureate Chinese Medicine, Tzu Chi University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Complement Med Res. 2021;28(4):317-324. doi: 10.1159/000512674. Epub 2020 Dec 17.
Dry eye disease (DED) has a higher incidence in old age and is seen predominantly in females worldwide. Neurosensory abnormalities, ocular surface inflammation and damage, film instability, and hyperosmolarity are major and proven pathologies responsible for a poor quality of life. Tear breakup time and Schirmer's I test are predominantly used for the evaluation of primary outcomes in patients undergoing conventional treatment. A previous meta-analysis of some relevant studies proved that combination of acupoints could be more effective than single acupoint treatment.
The present study aimed to undertake association rule mining and examined the potential kernel acupoint combination in DED treatment constructed from the extracted randomized controlled trials (RCTs) based on a previous meta-analysis.
We summarized 32 acupoints as binary data from the 12 eligible RCTs and analyzed them based on the Apriori algorithm.
TE23, BL2, ST2, ST1, EX-HN5, BL1, LI4, ST36, SP6, and KI3 were the 10 most frequently selected acupoints. The major associated rules in combination of acupoints were {TE23, LI4} ≥ {ST1} and {TE23, ST1} ≥ {LI4}, as inferred from 23 association rules.
For acupuncture treatment of DED, combined TE23, LI4, and ST1 acupoints could be settled as the kernel of acupoint combination.
干眼症（DED）在老年人群中的发病率较高，且在全球范围内主要见于女性。神经感觉异常、眼表炎症和损伤、泪膜不稳定以及高渗性是导致生活质量下降的主要和已证实的病理机制。泪膜破裂时间和 Schirmer 试验主要用于评估接受常规治疗的患者的主要结局。先前对一些相关研究的荟萃分析证明，穴位组合治疗可能比单一穴位治疗更有效。
本研究旨在进行关联规则挖掘，并根据之前的荟萃分析，从提取的随机对照试验（RCT）中检查DED 治疗中潜在的核心穴位组合。
我们将 12 项合格 RCT 中的 32 个穴位汇总为二进制数据，并基于 Apriori 算法进行分析。
TE23、BL2、ST2、ST1、EX-HN5、BL1、LI4、ST36、SP6 和 KI3 是最常选择的 10 个穴位。根据 23 条关联规则推断，穴位组合中的主要关联规则为{TE23、LI4}≥{ST1}和{TE23、ST1}≥{LI4}。
对于 DED 的针灸治疗，联合 TE23、LI4 和 ST1 穴位可以作为穴位组合的核心。
