[Medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of premature ejaculation: An analysis based on data mining].

OBJECTIVE

To study the medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of premature ejaculation.

METHODS

We searched the databases of CNKI, Wan Fang, VIP, SinoMed (CBM) and PubMed for studies on the treatment of PE with TCM prescriptions and performed statistical analyses on the data obtained using the TCM inheritance auxiliary platform software.

RESULTS

Totally 180 prescriptions were identified, involving 209 TCM drugs. The results of statistical analysis showed that the TCM drugs for the treatment of premature ejaculation were mostly warm, flat or cold in nature, sweet or spicy in taste, and with the kidney, liver and spleen meridian tropisms. The single TCM drugs most commonly used included Lycium barbarum L (Gouqizi), followed by Epimedium brevicornum Maxim (Yinyanghuo), Os draconis (Longgu), Fructus rosae laevigatae (Jinyingzi), and the drugs most frequently used in combination with others in a prescription were Os draconis (Longgu) and Concha ostreae (Muli). Seven newly derived prescriptions were identified in addition.

CONCLUSIONS

The compatibility of TCM in the treatment of premature ejaculation is characterized by the combination of the drugs for tonifying the kidney and arresting seminal emission as the main medication strategy, with those for soothing the liver and invigorating the spleen as the adjuvant agents, which has a certain clinical application value.