Objective To explore the regularities of clinical application of hand acupuncture therapy to the treatment of diseases of different departments by using data mining technique

so as to provide a reference for clinical practice.MethodsWe searched papers

academic dissertations and case reports(published in journals from Jan 1

1953 to December 31

2017)from databases of China National Knowledge Internet(CNKI)

VIP

and Wanfang

and also searched papers from medical books about hand acupuncture treatment of different diseases/illness by using keywords of"hand acupuncture"and "hand acupoints"

followed by constructing a database after sorting

screening

recording

extracting

and statistical analysis by using a computer.Then

the data mining was conducted for summarizing the characteristics and rules of the hand acupuncture therapy in clinical application.Results The hand acupuncture therapy in Chinese medical journals was found to be applied to various clinical departments

with the frequency from high to low successively being 16 types of diseases(37.21%)in the surgery

15 diseases(34.88%)in the internal medicine

2 diseases(4.65%)in the pediatrics

8 diseases(18.60%)in the ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology

1 disease(2.33%)in the genecology and 1 disease(2.33%)in the dermatology.In the treatment of diseases

the cure plus markedly effective rate of hand acupuncture was found to be highest for diseases of the pediatrics(90.65%)

and was88.45% surgery

78.06% internal medicine

89.96% ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology

60.61% gynecology

and 67.73%dermatology

respectively.When hand acupuncture used

the acupoints of the hand region on both sides

healthy side and affected side were often selected

and movement exercise was often used in combination

particularly for problems of the surgery.In the collected medical records and 6 acupuncture books

the hand acupuncture was employed for treatment of 34 and 123 kinds of diseases or problems

respectively

with the tissue injury

lumbocrural pain being most frequently seen in the records

and abdominal pain

lumbocrural

chest obstruction

etc.most frequently seen in the acupuncture books.Conclusion Hand acupuncture therapy is widely used in the treatment of many clinical problems of different departments

such as tissue injury

leg pain

etc.of the surgery;abdominal pain

asthma

etc.of the internal medicine;infantile enuresis

diarrhea

etc.of the pediatrics.Acupoints of the hand on the unilateral side are frequently employed and may have a better therapeutic effect.