Exploring the medication rule of traditional Chinese medicine for gastric ulcer based on data mining technology

Objective: Data mining methods were used to study the traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) medication rule of gastric ulcer, providing ideas and basis for clinical treatment of gastric ulcer. Methods: We searched the literature related on TCM treatment of gastric ulcer included from the three Chinese databases, namely, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI), Wanfang database (WANFANG DATA), and VIP database (VIP), to set up a database of standardised formulae and medicines. Descriptive analysis, clustering analysis, association rules analysis, network analysis, and factor analysis were performed using Excel 2021, Origin Pro 2024, Cytoscape 3.9.1, SPSS Modeler 18.0, and SPSS Statistics 27 software in order to explore medication rule. Results: A total of 371 effective prescriptions were included, involving 159 flavors of Chinese herbs. Frequency analysis results show that Chinese herbs mainly including Glycyrrhizae Radix Et Rhizoma, Paeoniae Radix Alba, Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, and etc.; The efficacy is mainly used for Tonifying Medicinal and Qi-regulating Medicinal; the four properties of the medicine is mainly warm and cold, the five flavors of the medicine is mainly bitter, sweet and pungent, it mainly belongs to the Spleen Meridian and Stomach Meridian; Clustering analysis yielded 6 core herb clusters. Factor analysis yielded 11 metric factors; Association rules analysis generated 21 rules. Conclusion: TCM treatments for gastric ulcer are mostly based on invigorating spleen and replenishing qi, regulating vital energy and a middle warmer, resolving dampness and moving qi, and harmonising stomach for relieving pain, and etc. The results of the data mining of the drug combinations and the formula extraction are intended to provide new ideas for the clinical diagnosis and treatment.