Sheng Lee
Background: Primary insomnia is a common sleep disorder that can have negative effects on patients’ health and quality of life. While clinical randomized controlled trials have suggested that acupuncture is effective in treating primary insomnia, further validation is needed to compare the efficacy of body acupuncture with medication. Therefore, this protocol outlines a program to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of body acupuncture and medication for the treatment of primary insomnia.
Methods: A systematic search will be conducted across 8 bibliographic databases from their inception to March 1, 2024. The databases include Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). Randomized controlled trials published in English or Chinese, comparing body acupuncture with pharmacological approaches for primary insomnia, will be included. The primary outcomes of the study will be sleep quality measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and clinical treatment effectiveness rate. Two reviewers will independently screen studies, extract data, and assess risk of bias. The quality of included literature will be evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook of Risk of Bias. Meta-analysis will be conducted using review manager 5.4 software.
Discussion: The findings of this study will provide credible evidence to evaluate the efficacy and safety of body acupuncture and medication in treating patients with primary insomnia.