Comparative study on composition regularities of traditional Chinese medicine formulas for five kinds of ophthalmic diseases using association rules / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the composition regularities of the traditional Chinese medicine formulas (TCMFs) for treating five kinds of ophthalmic diseases, including swelling and pain of eyes, night blindness, pterygium, blepharitis marginalis and nebula based on the data mining methodology. Methods: A total of 1999 TCMFs for ophthalmic diseases were collected from the Dictionary of Chinese Medicine Prescriptions. Then frequency analyses and association rules analyses were conducted with the three indicators of support, confidence and lift based on the Apriori algorithm. Results: The diaphoretic drugs and heat-clearing drugs were the commonly used types of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) for swelling and pain of eyes, pterygium and blepharitis marginalis. The heat-clearing drugs and tonifying drugs were the commonly used types of TCMs for night blindness and nebula. Coptidis Rhizoma was frequently used for swelling and pain of eyes, Schizonepetae Herba was for blepharitis marginalis, and Chuanxiong Rhizoma was for nebula. The latent association rules with significant lift included Margarita→Calamina for swelling and pain of eyes, Myrrha→Olibanum for pterygium, Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix→Saposhnikoviae Radix for blepharitis marginalis, and Lithargite→Sal Ammoniac for nebula. Conclusion: Using association rules, the comparative study on the five kinds of ophthalmic diseases can reveal the similarities and differences of treatments for these ophthalmic diseases and explore the composition regularities of TCMs, which helps to explore the hidden value of TCMFs.