[Auricular acupuncture for insomnia:a randomized controlled trial.]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of auricular acupuncture therapy (AAT) and standardized acupoints on sleep parameters among people with insomnia.

METHODS: A single-blind, randomized pilot study where the treatment group AAT on active points and the control group received AAT on sham points during a 4-week treatment period. Participants were recruited from the Acupuncture Outpatient Clinics in the General Hospital of People's Liberation Army. In all, 125 patients were included in the study, with 63 in treatment group and 62 in control group. Sleep parameters were obtained by using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

RESULTS: (1) Significant improvement in the PSQI total score and seven components score including sleep quality, time on falling asleep, sleeping time, efficiency and disorder of sleep, hypnotic and daytime functional disorder after treatment in both treatment group and control group (P < 0.01). (2) After treatment, there was a statistically significant difference seen in the PSQI total score and six components score (P < 0.01) except for hypnotic between the two groups. There were statistically significant differences in the rank differential value of total score and seven components of two groups (P < 0.01). (3) There were statistically significant differences in the mean rank of PSQI seven components using Mann-Whitney test (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that AAT played an effective role in improving the quantity and quality of sleep in those subjects with insomnia. A standardized AAT might help the treatment of insomnia, especially when combined with other treatments as psychological and behavioral therapies.