Effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on nocturnal autonomic nervous function in primary insomnia patients.
10.13703/j.0255-2930.20210622-k0006
- Author:
Ya-Nan ZHAO
1
;
Shao-Yuan LI
1
;
Su-Xia LI
2
;
Yue JIAO
1
;
Yu WANG
1
;
Shuai ZHANG
1
;
Jia-Kai HE
1
;
Yu CHEN
1
;
Pei-Jing RONG
1
Author Information
1. Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
2. National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
autonomic nervous function;
heart rate variability;
primary insomnia;
transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
- MeSH:
Heart Rate/physiology*;
Humans;
Sleep/physiology*;
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/therapy*;
Vagus Nerve;
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
- From:
Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion
2022;42(6):619-622
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on the sleep quality and nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with primary insomnia.
METHODS:Twenty-one patients with primary insomnia were included. Using SDZ-ⅡB electric acupuncture apparatus, Xin (CO15) and Shen (CO10) were stimulated with disperse-dense wave, 4 Hz/ 20 Hz in frequency, (0.2±30%) ms of pulse width and tolerable intensity. Electric stimulation was given once every morning and evening of a day, 30 min each time, for 4 weeks totally. Before and after treatment, the score of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), objective sleep structure (total sleep time [TST], sleep latency [SL], wake after sleep onset [WASO], sleep efficiency [SE], the percentages of non-rapid eye movement period 1, 2, 3, and the percentage of rapid eye movement period to TST [N1%, N2%, N3%, REM%] ) and nocturnal HRV (high frequency [HF], low frequency [LF], the ratio of LF to HF [LF/HF], standard deviation for the normal RR intervals [SDNN], squared root of the mean sum of squares of differences between adjacent intervals RR [RMSSD], the percentage of adjacent RR intervals with differences larger than 50 ms in the entire recording [PNN50%], the mean of sinus RR intervals [NNMean] ) were compared in the patients separately.
RESULTS:After treatment, the score of each item and the total score of PSQI and SL were all reduced as compared with those before treatment (P<0.01, P<0.001); SE, N3%, LF, HF, LF/HF, SDNN, NNMean and RMSSD were all increased compared with those before treatment (P<0.001, P<0.01).
CONCLUSION:The taVNS improves the sleep quality and objective sleep structure in patients with primary insomnia, which is probably related to the regulation of autonomic nervous functions.
