Purpose
To investigate the therapeutic effect of sleep hygiene with/without cranial microcurrent therapy (MC) in patients with chornic insomnia
Methods
This study was designed as a prospective, double-blinded, and randomized controlled trial. Twenty-seven patients (20 females, 7 males, mean age; 60.7±9.4 years) with chronic insomnia were recruited from the outpatient clinic of university hospital. They were randomly allocated to two groups; MC group (14 patients, 9 females, 5 males, mean age; 61.5±8.8 years) and Sham group (13 patients, 11 females, 2 males, mean age;59.9±10.3 years). All patients received sleep hygiene education. All patients had a sham or true portable mi-crocurrent therapy device (PMTD; intensity, 25 μA; frequency, 8 Hz), and were treated with a PMTD 1 hour daily for 4 weeks. Treatment was given via electrodes clipped to the ear lobes (Figure 1) in MC group. In Sham group, sham treatment was provided by PMTD without current. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were measured at baseline (pre-treament), 2 weeks and 4 weeks of treatment. Within-group changes were analyzed with a repeated measures analysis of variance. Intergroup differences were analyzed using the independent t-test.
Result
In Sham group, the PSQI significantly decreased until 2 weeks of treatment (p<.01) (Table 1, Figure 2). After 2 weeks of treatment, however, the PSQI increased. In MC group, the PSQI significantly decreased until 4 weeks of treatment (p<.01). The change of PSQI in MC group was smaller than that in Sham group between baseline and 2 weeks of treatment (p=.018), and greater than that in Sham group between 2 weeks and 4 weeks of treatment (p=0.030). In Sham group, the ISI significantly decreased until 2 weeks of treatment (p<.01). After 2 weeks of treatment, however, the ISI was not decreased. In MC group, the ISI significantly decreased until 4 weeks of treatment (p<.01). The change of ISI in MC group was greater than that in Sham group between 2 weeks and 4 weeks of treatment (p=.048).
Conclusion
This study showed that combination treatment of cranial microcurrent therapy and sleep hygiene is more effective in treating chronic insomnia than sleep hygiene only as demonstrated by improvement and maintenance of sleep score for 1 month.
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