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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1494929
Acupuncture for Systemic therapy-associated Insomnia in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Provisionally accepted- Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
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Background: Systemic therapy-associated insomnia is highly prevalent among patients with breast cancer. However, no meta-analysis has explored the efficacy of acupuncture for Systemic therapyassociated insomnia among patients with cancer.Methods: According to the PRISMA Statement, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through April 2024 were identified and extracted from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials. The quality of the RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane Systematic Review Handbook 5.1 and its recommended risk-of-bias assessment tool. Two independent investigators screened and extracted the data and performed statistical analysis using RevMan5.3.Results: Of the total 411 studies identified, 4 RCTs were analyzed. The meta-analysis revealed that acupuncture significantly improved the total sleep time and sleep efficiency relative to wait-list control or sham EA among patients with breast cancer experiencing insomnia after systemic therapy (mean difference [MD] 29.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 16.20-43.51, P < 0.0001 and MD 4.56, 95% CI 1.84-7.29, P = 0.001), reduced the pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) relative to wait-list control or sham EA with an MD of -0.87 (95% CI -1.60 to -0.15, P = 0.02, I 2 = 25%) in 4 weeks and an MD of -0.82 (95% CI -1.60 to -0.04, P = 0.04, I 2 = 12%) in 8 weeks, and reduced the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS)-anxiety both in 4 weeks with an MD of -0.85 (95% CI -1.42 to -0.27, P = 0.004, I 2 = 0%) and in 8 weeks with an MD of -0.94 (95% CI -1.56 to -0.32, P = 0.003, I 2 =0%. However, no significant differences in insomnia severity index (MD -2.15, 95% CI -5.07 to 0.78, P = 0.15 and MD -1.48, 95% CI -3.91 to 0.94, P = 0.23), and HADS-depression (MD -0.67, 95% CI -2.32 to 0.99, P = 0.43 and MD -0.63, 95% CI -2.39 to 1.12, P = 0.48) in 4 and 8 weeks were observed between the acupuncture group and the wait-list control or sham EA group.Conclusion: Acupuncture has a great potential to be used in the management of systemic therapyassociated insomnia in patients with breast cancer.
Keywords: Acupuncture, insomnia, breast cancer, Treatment, Meta-analysis
Received: 11 Sep 2024; Accepted: 16 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Sun, Luo, Chen, Huang, Zhu and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meixia Ye, Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, 518033, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.