Effects of acupuncture on withdrawal symptoms and long-term recurrence in depressed patients / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effects of acupuncture therapy on sleep quality after drug withdrawal symptoms and long-term recurrence in patients with depression. Methods A total of 70 depression patients were retrospectively analyzed, according to the withdrawal method is divided into two groups, each group of 35 cases. The incidence of drug withdrawal syndrome in the two groups was observed and the success rate of drug withdrawal was calculated. The recurrence rate of depression in the two groups within one year after drug withdrawal, and the sleep quality were observed. The degree of depressive symptoms were assessed. Results The incidence of drug withdrawal syndrome were 11.4% in the observation group and 31.4% in the control group, which the difference was statistically significant (χ2=4.158, P=0.041). The rate of recurrence of depression was 9.7% in the observation group and 41.7% in the control group, which the observation group was significantly lower than the control group (χ2=7.669, P=0.006). After 1 year the drug was stopped, the sleep quality, sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep disorder, daytime function and hypnotic drug score and total scores of PSQI of the observation group were significantly increased (P<0.01). And the PSQI at different time frames were significantly lower than those of the control group (t value were 2.888, 2.329, 2.092, 2.535, 9.951, P<0.05 or P<0.01). The HAMD score of the observation group 1 week after drug withdrawal and 1 year after drug withdrawal was significantly lower than those of the control group (t value were 9.271, 14.238, P<0.05). Conclusions The acupuncture therapy can improve the sleep quality of patients with mild and moderate depression after drug withdrawal, and reduce the incidence of drug withdrawal syndrome, and the risk of long-term recurrence.