ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the rules for acupoint selection of warming acupuncture and moxibustion in clinical treatment of knee osteoarthritis based on data mining technology. Methods CNKI, Wanfang Data, CBM, VIP, PubMed and Cochrane Library were searched for relevant literature about warming acupuncture and moxibustion in treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Database was built according to the search results. Association rules were used to analyze the rules for acupoint selection. Results Totally 189 papers were included, involving 189 prescriptions of acupuncture and moxibustion, 46 acupoints, 1270 times of acupoint selection. There were 1119 times of neighboring acupoint selection (88.1%), 151 times of distant acupoint selection (11.9%), 654 times of acupoint selection in yang meridian (51.5%) and 283 times of acupoint selection in yin meridian (22.3%). Conclusion Warming acupuncture and moxibustion in clinical treatment of knee osteoarthritis focuses on acupoints in Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming, Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin; the neighboring acupoint selection is the main method, combined with evidence-based distant acupoint selection; acupoint selection from yang meridian was emphasized.