Objective  To analyze the rules of auricular therapy for constipation by data mining.

  Methods  The literatures in clinical trials involving auricular therapy for treatment of constipation were retrieved from the establishment of the database to September 30, 2020, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Weipu Chinese science and technology periodical database(VIP), Wanfang full text database of academic journals (Wanfang), Chinese biomedical literature database(SinoMed) and PubMed database. Microsoft Excel 2016 was used to build the database, and SPSS 23.0 software was used for frequency statistics of highfrequency auricular acupoints, auricular acupoints combination and commonly used departments of auricular acupoints. SPSS Modeler 18.0 software was used for association rule analysis of related auricular points, and R 4.0.3 software was used for visualization analysis of auricular point set and auricular point network analysis.

  Results  A total of 562 articles were included, containing 61 auricular acupoints and the auricular points with frequency from high to low were Dachang(95.56%), Zhichang(75.63%), the Spleen(66.90%), Sanjiao(60.67%), the Lung(53.56%). The most common departments for treatment of constipation by auricular therapy included anorectal, encephalopathy and orthopedics departments. Dachang combined with Sanjiao was most commonly used herbal compatibility. The combination of Dachang, Zhichang and Jiaogan was used in high frequency.

  Conclusion  Auricular therapy for constipation is guided by the principle of syndrome differentiation of traditional Chinese medicine, and acupoints are flexibly selected for compatibility according to different basic diseases on the basis of Dachang. It is feasible to analyze the acupoint selection and compatibility rules of auricular acupoint therapy in the treatment of constipation based on data mining, which can provide reference for clinical research.