Mapping Acupuncture Point Recommendations in Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines: Insights from Data Mining and Network Analysis

Background: Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines (KM-CPGs) increasingly include acupuncture recommendations, yet cross-disease patterns of acupuncture point selection remain insufficiently characterized. Methods: We extracted acupuncture point recommendations from 45 KM-CPGs published up to December 26, 2024. Point names were standardized according to World Health Organization standard locations, and frequency distributions were visualized using heat maps and body maps. Eigenvector centrality-based network analysis was used to examine point co-recommendation structures across four disease categories. Results: ST36, LI4, SP6, LR3, and GV20 were the most frequently recommended points. Disease-category-specific profiles included GB34, BL23, SI3, and EX-B2 for musculoskeletal/injury conditions; GV20, HT7, PC6, and EX-HN1 for mental/behavioral disorders; LI4, GB20, and EX-HN5 for nervous system disorders; and SP6, BL23, CV4, and KI3 for genitourinary/pregnancy-related conditions. These findings indicate the combined use of regional and distal point strategies. Conclusions: Data mining and network analysis revealed both shared and disease-category-specific acupuncture point profiles in KM-CPGs, providing a reference map for future validation against real-world clinical practice data.