Combination of acupuncture improves the effect of estazolam on senile insomnia

Objective: The current study was designed to compare the effects of acupuncture, estazolam and a combination of the two on the treatment of senile insomnia. Methods: From January 2015 to December 2019, a total of 270 elderly outpatients with insomnia were recruited from the Department of Encephalopathy of Shaanxi Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and randomly grouped into three groups (Group A: acupuncture group, Group B: estazolam group, Group C: acupuncture plus estazolam group, n=90). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and polysomnography indexes (PSG) were used to evaluate the treatment efficacy of these three methods. Results: The effective rates in Group A, Group B and Group C were 72.2%, 71.3% and 89.2%, respectively. The PSQI scores after treatment were statistically lower than those before treatment in all three groups. No significant difference existed between Group A and Group B in the total PSQI score before and after treatment. The difference in score after treatment in Group C was more significant than that in the other two groups. The sub-score analysis of the PSQI showed that a combination of acupuncture and estazolam was more effective in improving subjective sleep quality, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency and daytime function than acupuncture or estazolam alone. The PSG results showed that the combination group had better outcomes in terms of increasing the total sleep time and sleep efficiency, prolonging NREM sleep, decreasing the frequency of awakening, reducing the light sleep time of the S1 phase and increasing the deep sleep time of the S3 phase over Group A and Group B. Conclusion: Acupuncture has a similar effect to estazolam on senile insomnia. The combination of acupuncture and estazolam has a greater effect in improving both the quality and quantity of sleep in elderly patients suffering from insomnia over acupuncture or estazolam alone.