Clinical study on auricular plaster therapy in the auxiliary treatment of insomnia caused by liver fire disturbance in a sub-healthy population / 中国基层医药

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of psychotherapy combined with auricular plaster therapy in the auxiliary treatment of insomnia caused by liver fire disturbance in a sub-healthy population.Methods:Eighty sub-healthy patients with insomnia caused by liver fire disturbance who received treatment in Wenzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from June 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018 were included in this study. These patients were randomly assigned to receive cognitive behavioral therapy (control group, n = 40) or cognitive behavioral therapy combined with auricular plaster therapy (observation group, n = 40) for 4 weeks. Polysomnography was used to evaluate the sleep condition before and after treatment. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate the severity of insomnia. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to evaluate the quality of life of patients. The therapeutic effect was compared between the two groups. Results:After treatment, total sleep time [(421.25 ± 11.58) min vs. (456.25 ± 11.23) min], sleep efficiency [(70.32 ± 4.44)% vs. (76.58 ± 5.89)%], non-rapid eye movement stage 2 (N2) sleep [(43.25 ± 4.44)% vs.(45.62 ± 4.36)%], N3 sleep [(14.25 ± 4.52)% vs. (18.52 ± 5.55)%], rapid eye movement (R) sleep [(21.98 ± 5.21)% vs. (24.66 ± 4.87)%] in the control group were significantly shorter or lower than those in the observation group ( t = 13.723, 5.367, 9.035, 2.408, 3.772, 2.376, all P < 0.05). After treatment, sleep quality [(1.85 ± 0.54) points vs. (1.10 ± 0.42) points], sleep-onset latency [(1.52 ± 0.51) min vs. (1.08 ± 0.35) min], sleep duration [(1.30 ± 0.41) min vs. (0.75 ± 0.41) min], sleep efficiency [(1.53 ± 0.44) points vs. (1.02 ± 0.33) points], sleep disturbance [(1.20 ± 0.41) points vs. (0.78 ± 0.31) points], hypnotics [ (0.11 ± 0.02) points vs. (0.04 ± 0.01) points], daytime dysfunction [(1.65 ± 0.47) points vs. (1.03 ± 0.28) points] and total scores [(9.11 ± 1.33) points vs. (5.80 ± 1.01) points] in the control group were significantly higher than those in the observation group ( t = 6.933, 4.499, 5.999, 5.864, 5.167, 19.789, 7.167, 12 535, P < 0.05). After treatment, the scores in physical health [(13.85 ± 2.22) points vs. (17.86 ± 2.01) points], psychological domain [(15.52 ± 1.89) points vs. (16.35 ± 1.33) points], social relationships [(16.01 ± 1.58) points vs. (19.52 ± 1.85) points] and environment domain [(17.52 ± 1.90) points vs. (20.89 ± 2.22) points] in the control group were significantly lower than those in the observation group ( t = 8.468, 4.499, 9.124 and 7.294, all P < 0.05). After treatment, total effective rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group [95.0% (38/40) vs. 72.5% (29/40), χ 2 = 7.440, P < 0.05]. Conclusion:Psychotherapy combined with auricular plaster therapy can significantly increase the sleep duration and sleep efficiency and improve the quality of life of sub-healthy patients with insomnia caused by liver fire disturbance, which is worthy of clinical promotion.