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Abstract
Background Acupuncture has been demonstrated to be a safe and effective treatment for insomnia in patients without cancer. A lack of evidence, however, supports its application in the treatment of cancer-related insomnia (CRI).
Objective To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy as well as safety of acupuncture for alleviating insomnia in patients with cancer.
Methods A systematic search was conducted using four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library) to select publications published in peer-reviewed journals written in English. The OR was calculated, along with their 95% CIs. We assessed heterogeneity using Cochrane Q, I2 statistics and the appropriate p value. The analysis used RevMan V.5.3.
Findings The present meta-analysis comprised 561 individuals from 10 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) across age cohorts. Acupuncture intervention improves Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores and CRI more than control, with a pooled OR of 1.66 (95% CI 1.12 to 2.46), OR of 5.90 (95% CI 2.64 to 13.23) for electroacupuncture, OR of 2.30 (95% CI 1.48 to 3.58) for auricular-acupuncture and 2.72. Acupuncture improved the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and CRI more than control approaches, with ORs of 1.31 (95% CI 0.69 to 2.48), 5.29 (95% CI 2.18 to 12.84), 3.17 (95% CI 1.35 to 7.44) and 1.64 (95% CI 1.00 to 2.68).
Conclusion The change in PSQI and ISI scores showed that acupuncture moderately improved insomnia in patients with cancer. Acupuncture is safe and effective, enabling subsequent clinical treatments.
- Cancer
- Palliative Care
Data availability statement
Upon reasonable request, the corresponding author will provide access to the requested information.
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Data availability statement
Upon reasonable request, the corresponding author will provide access to the requested information.
Footnotes
PL, LL, DX, SX, NH and CL contributed equally.
Contributors PL and LL: concept and designed the study, DX and SX: analyzed data and drafting of the manuscript; NH and CL: collected the data and helped in data analysis; CL: final editing, review, and guarantor of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Funding 1. Scientific Research Proje-ct of Beijing Electric Power Hospital (No. Y2021002) 2. Scientific Research Project of Beijing Electric Power Hospital (No. Y2023007) 3. “Science and Technology Program of Hebei” (No.H2022406057).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
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