Acupuncture Reduced the Risk for Insomnia in Stroke Patients: A Propensity-Score Matched Cohort Study
Qiu X, Han NS, Yao JX, Yu FR, Lin YY, Zhuang X · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · 2021 August 13
DOI 10.3389/fnagi.2021.698988
Objective
Post-stroke insomnia (PSI) affects the quality of life for stroke patients, reduces the likelihood of successful rehabilitation, and produces additional complications following stroke. Previous reports have provided some information regarding PSI risk factors, but little is known concerning protective factors for PSI. This study analyzed the relationship between acupuncture and insomnia in stroke patients and explored the use of acupuncture as a preventive treatment.
Conclusions
Acupuncture treatment reduced the risk of insomnia in stroke patients. Future research be conducted with increased sample sizes and further elaboration on the specific acupuncture protocols that were used.
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Insights
Stroke patients who received acupuncture had a lesser risk of insomnia across various demographic and medical variables.
The study data was derived from the case database of a Chinese hospital, featuring stroke patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2019. These patients were sorted into two groups: one which received acupuncture and one which did not. The sorting was performed using a propensity score matching technique. Comparisons were made between the two groups using the incidence of insomnia as the primary indicator, with Cox regression analysis and the Kaplan-Meier method serving as the main analytical tools.
The results indicated that stroke patients who underwent acupuncture treatments were less susceptible to insomnia as compared to counterparts who didn't receive acupuncture treatment. This decrease in the incidence of insomnia was observed across various categories such as genders, age groups, stroke types and stroke locations, with the acupuncture group displaying a significantly lesser cumulative incidence of insomnia.
