The Clinical Study Of Laser Acupuncture Therapy For Insomnia With Syndrome Of Hyperactivity Of Fire Due To Yin Deficiency

Objectivei@i@To investigate the clinical efficacy of laser acupuncture therapy for insomnia with syndrome of hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency.MethodsSubjects suffering from insomnia were recruited for a open-label trial to compare the effectiveness of laser acupunture, acupunture and Chinese medicine treatment course of 4 weeks. Relevant clinical observations, safety level and adverse reactions were recorded. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Self-Rating Depression scale (SDS) and self-rating anxiety Scale (SAS) were used to assess sleep quality and mental health before and after treatment.ResultsA total of 274 individuals were recruited, with 20 disqualified due to various reasons. There were 183 patients diagnosed as having the syndrome of hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency. After calculating their PSQI scores, only 112 subjects, aged between 22 and 65 were qualified for further analysis. Most of them are females (86/112=77%). Twenty-two percent of patients defaulted but the final composition of the three groups did not differ significantly in demographic characteristics. The laser treatment group had a decrease of PSQI of 2.48 points on average, while the acupuncture group 3.4 points and the Chinese medicine group 2.63. The difference before and after treatment of all groups were statistically significant (P<0.001). All the six PSQI component scores, sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime function, decreased statistically significantly (P<0.001) in all the three groups. Although there was a difference in the decline in the total and component score of PSQI between the three groups, it was not statistically significant. There was also no interaction effect observed between group and before and after treatment. Similar results were obtained for SDS and SAS. Among the three groups statistically significant (P<0.001) improvement was observed after treatment. Again, there was no statistically significant differenpe between group or considering the interaction effect. The effective (improvement by 25-75% decrease in PSQI) rate of the laser acupunture group was 44%, acupuncture group 40%, Chinese Medicine group 48%, significant improvement (>75% decrease) of laser acupunture group was 32%, acupuncture group 43% and Chinese medicine group 26%. Therefore the total effective rate of the laser group was 76%, acupuncture group 83% and Chinese Medicine group 74%. All treatment groups showed no adverse reactions.ConelusionsTreatment based on traditional Chinese medicine theory was effective in treating insomnia with syndrome of hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency. In particular, laser acunpucture therapy was found to improve this type of insomnia in patients with depression, anxiety, poor sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime function. The overall efficacy and outcome measures improvement of laser acunpucture therapy were similar to those by acupuncture and Chinese medicine therapy. All therapies for insomnia are safe and no adverse reactions were identified. Laser acunpucture therapy is safe, effective, non-toxic and side effect free. It is a green therapy and worth further promotion.