ABSTRACT
Based on data mining technology, the acupoints compatibility rules of acupuncture for depression diseases were explored. The randomized controlled trial (RCT) articles regarding acupuncture for depression diseases published from establishment of database to September 2nd, 2022 were searched in CNKI database, Wangfang database, VIP database, SinoMed database, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. The use frequency of acupoints, meridian tropism, selection of special acupoints and acupoint association rules for five common depression diseases, including primary depression, post-stroke depression, menopausal syndrome, psychoneurosis and anxiety disorder, were analyzed by Python programming language. Cytoscape software was used to analyze the acupoint association and the disease-acupoint co-occurrence network. As a result, totally 387 articles were included, and 319 acupoints prescriptions for the above five common depression diseases were extracted, involving 159 acupoints. The use frequency of acupoints was 2 574 times in total. The frequently-used acupoints were Baihui (GV 20), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Taichong (LR 3), Neiguan (PC 6), Shenmen (HT 7), Yintang (GV 24+), Zusanli (ST 36), Hegu (LI 4), Sishencong (EX-HN 1) and Taixi (KI 3), etc. The frequently involved meridians were the governor vessel, foot-taiyang bladder meridian, foot-taiyin spleen meridian, and foot-jueyin liver meridian. The frequency of the special acupoints from high to low was crossing points, five-shu points, yuan-primary points, back-shu points, luo-connecting points, and eight confluent points, etc, which were often used in combination with "Baihui (GV 20)-Yintang (GV 24+)" (the highest degree of association). At the same time, the analysis of the co-occurrence network of depression diseases and acupoints showed that the core acupoints group of acupuncture for depression diseases were Baihui (GV 20), Taichong (LR 3), Shenmen (HT 7), Zusanli (ST 36), Neiguan (PC 6) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6). In conclusion, acupuncture treatment for depression diseases has gradually formed a rule of acupoint compatibility, with special acupoint as the main body and "unblocking the governor vessel, and regulating the spirit and qi " as the main therapeutic principle.