Acupoint Sensitivity in Patients with Primary Insomnia and Its Correlation with Polysomnography and Heart Rate...

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Sleep Science
• Pain Research

Background:

• Primary insomnia (PI) is a prevalent sleep disorder.
• Acupuncture offers effective treatment for PI.
• Optimal acupoint selection for PI treatment requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate acupoint pain sensitization in PI patients.
• To correlate acupoint sensitization with clinical and physiological markers.
• To identify optimal acupoints for PI treatment based on sensitization.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 73 PI patients and 73 healthy controls.
• Measured pressure pain thresholds (PPT) at 10 common PI acupoints.
• Analyzed correlations between acupoint sensitization, sleep questionnaires, polysomnography (PSG), and heart rate variability (HRV).

Main Results:

• PI patients exhibited lower PPTs and higher pain sensitization rates at acupoints RN14 and BL15.
• Pain sensitization correlated negatively with age and positively with disease duration.
• Higher PSQI and SDS scores were linked to increased sensitization at specific acupoints; HRV showed inverse correlation.

Conclusions:

• Specific acupoints (BL15, RN14) demonstrate pain sensitization in PI patients.
• Acupoint sensitization serves as a potential biomarker for PI diagnosis and treatment.
• Findings support individualized acupuncture treatment strategies for insomnia.