Influence of acupuncture with three specific acu-points on quality of sleep in residents of an elderly nursing home in rural India: A pilot randomized placebo-controlled trial

Quality of sleep is usually compromised in the geriatric population resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness, difficulty sustaining attention, slowed response time, difficulty with memory, and decreased performance. Acupuncture has been established as an alternative therapy, but methodological research still needs to verify its efficacy in sleep disturbances. Hence, a pilot placebo-controlled trial was designed to assess 3 acupuncture point's effect on sleep quality in the geriatric population staying in a nursing home. A total of 40 elderly subjects with self-reported sleep disturbance (age with mean± SD = 69.55 ± 7.80) were recruited and allocated to two groups comprising an experimental (n = 20) and a control group (n = 20). Participants were randomly allocated with an allocation ratio of 1:1. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores were obtained at baseline and following two weeks. Subjects in the experimental group received needling of Shenmen (HT-7), Baihui (GV-20) and Yintang (EX-HN-3) acupoints for 30 min per day for two weeks, and the control group received placebo points during the respective interventions. After two weeks of acupuncture, the intervention result showed a significant reduction in all components of PSQI and global PSQI scores (p < 0.001) and a significant increase in ESS score (p < 0.001) in the experimental group compared to the control group. The study reveals that two weeks of acupuncture intervention significantly positively affect sleep quality in older adults.