The efficacy of acupuncture on the sleep structure of patients with insomnia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture on the sleep structure of patients with insomnia, so as to provide a valuable basis for the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia. We conducted searches based on MeSH terms and free words in Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of science, CKNI (China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database), WanFang Database, and Chongqing VIP Information from the inception of these database until 10 July 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated acupuncture treatment in patients with insomnia, and pertinent details of the results were saved. Comprehensive analysis showed that: (1) compared with the Western medicine groups, the acupuncture groups showed significant advantages in reducing the percentage of N1 sleep stage and N2 sleep stage, as well as increasing that of N3 sleep stage and REM sleep stage. However, no significant difference was found in increasing the effective rate, reducing total PSQI score, improving the total sleep time, reducing sleep latency, and improving sleep efficiency between the Western medicine groups and the acupuncture groups. (2) Compared with the sham acupuncture groups, the acupuncture treatment showed advantages in increasing the effective rate, reducing Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score, increasing the total sleep time, and improving sleep efficiency. However, no significant difference was observed between the sham acupuncture groups and the acupuncture groups with regard to reducing sleep latency, the percentage of N1 sleep stage and N2 sleep stage, as well as increasing that of N3 sleep stage and REM sleep stage. 本研究旨在评价针刺对失眠症患者睡眠结构的影响，为针刺治疗失眠症的疗效提供有价值的依据。方法:基于主题词和自由词，我们通过计算机检索了Cochrane Library， PubMed, Web of science，中国知网，万方数据库，重庆维普数据库，对针刺治疗失眠症患者的相关随机对照试验(RCTs)进行检索，设置检索时间为建库至2020年7月10日，并保存了相关细节。结论:综合分析表明:1.与西药组相比，针刺组在减少N1睡眠阶段和N2睡眠阶段的百分比，以及增加N3睡眠阶段和REM睡眠阶段的百分比方面有显著优势，但在提高治疗有效率、降低PSQI总分、增加睡眠总时间、缩短睡眠潜伏时间以及提高睡眠效率等方面两组之间没有显著差异；2.与假针刺组相比，针刺组在提高治疗有效率、降低PSQI总分、增加睡眠总时间及提高睡眠效率方面有优势，然而，在缩短睡眠潜伏时间、减少N1睡眠阶段和N2睡眠阶段的百分比，以及增加N3睡眠阶段和REM睡眠阶段的百分比方面，两组之间没有显著性差异。