| To analyze research status and direction of development of acupuncture in the treatment
of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) using CiteSpace. Methods: Data from literature from the CNKI database
dated up to January 2021 were imported into CiteSpace for visual analysis, and the authors, institutions, time
curve, research hotspots, and future trends were analyzed by cooperation network, keyword clustering, keyword
co-occurrence, and other analysis methods. Results: As of January 2021, 546 articles on acupuncture treatment
of CFS were retrieved, and 493 articles were included after screening. The author's visual analysis showed that 4
authors were cited ≥7 times, and 10 authors published ≥13 articles. Visual analysis of research institutions
showed that 10 research institutions published ≥5 times and 5 research institutions published ≥45 articles. The
main research hotspots of acupuncture in the treatment of CFS include CFS, acupuncture, moxibustion, stress,
and immune mechanism. Since the establishment of the database, the top 10 keywords were CF, cupping,
experimental research, electroacupuncture, stress, randomized controlled trials, acupoint catgut embedding,
moxibustion, abdominal acupuncture, and improved snake moxibustion. Conclusion: The main treatment
methods are moxibustion and abdominal acupuncture, and the acupoints are sun's abdominal acupoints and Jin's
three needles. The etiology and pathogenesis are at the brain-gut axis, intestinal flora, and HPA axis. The
comorbidity is anxiety and depression. There is a lack of research on preventative acupuncture treatment of
CFS. The research data on acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of CFS is abundant; the treatment methods
are diverse, and the proportion of basic research and clinical research is balanced. However, there is limited
communication between research institutions and researchers. |