Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 22:2021:6621993.
doi: 10.1155/2021/6621993. eCollection 2021.

Efficacy and Safety of Scalp Acupuncture for Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Fu-Gui Liu  1 , Ai-Hua Tan  2 , Chao-Qun Peng  3 , Yun-Xia Tan  1 , Ming-Chao Yao  1   4
Affiliations
Review

Efficacy and Safety of Scalp Acupuncture for Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Fu-Gui Liu et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of scalp acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia.

Methods: CNKI, Wanfang database, CQVIP database, CBM, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PubMed were searched for the literature on the treatment of insomnia by scalp acupuncture from the establishment of the database to July 23, 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literatures and extracted the data, then evaluated the quality of the literatures, and used RevMan 5.3 software for statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 21 studies including 1606 cases were included. 21 studies were included in the analysis of effective rate. The heterogeneity test showed that there was no significant heterogeneity. The fixed effect model was used, P < 0.00001. The effective rate of scalp acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia was significantly higher than that of the control group. The analysis of PSQI score was finally included in 19 studies. The heterogeneity test showed that there was obvious heterogeneity. The random effect model was used, and the subgroup analysis was conducted according to the different intervention measures of the control group. The P values of the drug group and the blank group were both less than 0.05, indicating that the improvement of PSQI score in the scalp acupuncture treatment of insomnia was significantly better than that in the drug group and the blank group; P = 0.05 in other acupuncture groups, suggesting in scalp acupuncture treatment, there was no difference between insomnia and other acupuncture in improving the PSQI score. Six studies were included in the analysis of adverse events. The heterogeneity test showed no significant heterogeneity. The fixed effect model was used, P = 0.04 < 0.05, indicating that the adverse events of scalp acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia were better than those of the control group. No publication bias analysis was conducted due to the small number of adverse events included. Publication bias was analyzed for effective rate and PSQI score. Egger's TSTs test (effective rate P = 0.001, PSQI score P = 0.001) and funnel plot showed publication bias.

Conclusion: Scalp acupuncture is effective and safe in the treatment of insomnia, which is worthy of clinical application. However, due to the limited number of included literature, the methodology of some studies is slightly low and the quality of literature is slightly poor. In the future, we need to design rigorous, large sample, multiple center randomized controlled study to further verify the conclusion of this study.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of literature screening.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Literature quality risk bias chart.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The forest plot of effective rate.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The forest plot of PSQI score.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The forest plot of adverse events.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Sensitivity analysis of effective rate.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Sensitivity analysis of adverse events.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Meta-regression analysis of PSQI score.
Figure 9
Figure 9
(a) The funnel plot of effective rate; (b) the funnel plot of PSQI score.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Egger's test results of effective rate.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Egger's test results of PSQI score.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhang P., Li Y. P., Wu H. J., et al. Chinese adult insomnia diagnosis and treatment guidelines (2017 Edition) Chinese Journal of Neurology. 2018;51(5):324–335.
    1. Zhang J., Xin X. Y., Quan F. Y. Research progress of traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on insomnia. Xinjiang Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2020;38(2):127–128.
    1. Wan Q. Y., Wu W. Z., Liu C. Y., et al. Research progress of scalp acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia. Sichuan Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2018;36(4):201–204.
    1. Chinese Sleep Research Association. Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia. Chinese Journal of Medicine. 2017;97(24):1844–1855.
    1. Buysse D. J. Insomnia. JAMA. 2013;309(7):p. 706. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.193<remarks>Doi_inserted_from_Crossref</remarks>. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources