Trial reportChinese journal of integrative medicine2022
Effect of Auricular Acupoint Bloodletting plus Auricular Acupressure on Sleep Quality and Neuroendocrine Level in College Students with Primary Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Chinese journal of integrative medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- A network meta-analysis of intensive nursing interventions for delirium in ICU patients.Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Acupressure on Sleep Quality Among Inpatients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nursing & health sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Auricular acupressure for insomnia in women with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Mapping the research landscape of traditional Chinese medicine in insomnia management: a bibliometric study (2005-2024).Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of acupuncture on pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in vitro fertilization: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of multiple external therapies in patients with insomnia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Non-Invasive Auricular Acupoint Stimulation Improves Slow-Transit Constipation: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025Trial
- A short-term mindfulness and auricular acupressure program for preoperative sleep fragmentation in patients with spinal metastases: a retrospective quasi-experimental study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Acupuncture in circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders and its potential neurochemical mechanisms.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Acupoint stimulation for long COVID: A promising intervention:.World journal of acupuncture-moxibustion · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the effects of auricular acupoint bloodletting (AB) and auricular acupressure (AA) on sleep quality and the levels of melatonin (MT), glutamic acid (Glu), and γ -aminobutyric acid (GABA) in college students with primary insomnia, and to explore the possible mechanism.
methodsTotally 74 college students at Hebei University of Chinese Medicine with primary insomnia were selected from October 2019 to October 2020. All patients were assigned to AB+AA group (37 cases, received combination of AB and AA) and AA group (37 cases, received only AA on the same acupoints) by a random number table. Each group was treated twice a week for 4 weeks. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score, Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome score, total effective rate, serum concentrations of MT, Glu, and GABA, and Glu/GABA ratio were compared between the two groups after treatment and at follow-up. The safety of therapy was also evaluated.
resultsAfter 4-week treatment, the total scores of PSQI, each PSQI component score, and the CM syndrome scores in both groups all decreased (P<0.05); the serum MT concentrations in both groups all increased (P<0.05). The concentrations of Glu and GABA in the AB+AA group were significantly higher than those in the AA group after treatment (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the ratio of Glu/GABA in both groups before and after treatment (P>0.05). At follow-up, the CM syndrome score in the AB+AA group was significantly lower than that in the AA group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in total effective rates and adverse events (P>0.05).
conclusionsBoth AB+AA and AA can relieve insomnia symptoms, but a stronger long-term effect were observed for AB+AA. AB+AA can promote the secretion of MT, increase the levels of Glu and GABA more effective than AA, and regulate their imbalance, and thus it may be benificial for treating insomnia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.