[Analysis of clinical indications of acupoint Yinbai (SP1) and its compatible regularities based on data mining technology].

OBJECTIVE

To explore the dominant indications and laws of acupoint compatibility of Yinbai (SP1) by using modern statistics and data mining techniques.

METHODS

Literature about indications and acupoint prescriptions of SP1 published before October of 1949 were retrieved from books (5 edition) and , and those published from October 1 of 1949 to January of 2021 retrieved from databa-ses of CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, Web of Science and Pubmed by using key words of Yinbai (SP1),"Guilei"(),"Guiyan"() and Jing (Well)-point of Spleen Meridian, followed by screening the data and establishing a SQL Server database after standardized processing. Then, the descriptive analysis, clustering analysis and association rule analysis were conducted by using Gephi visualization software, SPSS Statistics 25.0 and SPSS Modeler, separately.

RESULTS

Before October of 1949, the single SP1 acupoint was usually used to treat 12 types of diseases (mainly the internal diseases as asthma, abdominal distension, vomiting, etc.), and the compound prescriptions of SP1 were usually used to treat 20 types of diseases (mainly the internal diseases as insomnia and dreamful sleep, blood syndrome, etc.), and its adjunct acupoints belong to the first three meridians: the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian, Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian and Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian. After October of 1949, the single SP1 was used to dominantly treat 2 types of diseases (mainly the gynecological diseases as metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, and hypermenorrhea, etc.), and the compound prescriptions of SP1 were frequently used to treat 10 diseases (metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, sequela of apoplexy, mental disorders, insomnia and dreamful sleep, etc.), and the adjunct acupoints of compound prescriptions belong to the first three meridians, namely the Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian, Concept Vessel and Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian. Before and after October of 1949, the adjunct acupoints with the highest degree of correlation were Lidui (ST45), Shaoshang(LU11), Zusanli(ST36), Sanyinjiao (SP9), and Guanyuan (CV4). Cluster analysis showed that 9 effective clusters obtained may be used as potential prescriptions of SP1, and association rule analysis displayed that the first three strongly connected acupoint matching groups were: SP1-ST45, SP1-LU11, and SP1-ST36 frequently used before October of 1949, and SP1-SP9, SP1-ST36 and SP1-CV4 employed after October of 1949.

CONCLUSION

Data mining technology reveals that acupoint SP1 alone is mainly used to treat internal diseases before 1949, and gynecological diseases after 1949; and compound acupoint recipes of SP1 are mainly to treat the internal diseases before 1949, and the gynecological diseases and mental disorders after 1949 in China. The frequently employed adjunct acupoints of SP1 are ST45, LU11, ST36, SP9 and CV4 both before and after 1949.