The rule and characteristics of clinical acupoint selection were explored in treatment of puerperal insufficient lactation with acupuncture and moxibustion. The clinical articles on the treatment of puerperal insufficient lactation with acupuncture and moxibustion were retrieved from the databases of CNKI, VIP and Wanfang from the date of establishment to June 1, 2019. The articles were screened in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The prescriptions of acupuncture and moxibustion were extracted and normalized. Using Microsoft Excel 2016 software, the use frequency, meridians involved and acupoint distributions were analyzed. Using SPSS Statistics 21.0 software, the cluster and factor analyses were conducted. Totally, 102 articles were included,108 acupoint prescriptions were extracted, 65 acupoitns were designed and the total use frequency was 654 times. The top three acupoints used in treatment of puerperal insufficient lactation were Danzhong (CV 17), Rugen (ST 18) and Shaoze (SI 1). The most frequently involved meridians were the stomach meridian, the conception vessel, the small intestine meridian and the liver meridian. The acupoints were mainly distributed in the chest and four extremities. It was showed in cluster analysis that Rugen (ST 18), Shaoze (SI 1), Zusanli (ST 36) and Danzhong (CV 17) represent 3 clusters and a total of 7 common factors were extracted. The acupoint selection is based on syndrome differentiation in treatment of puerperal insufficient lactation with acupuncture and moxibustion, of which, the local acupoints are predominated and the distal acupoints are combined.
Keywords: acupuncture and moxibustion; cluster analysis; factor analysis; puerperal insufficient lactation; rule of acupoint selection.