Acupoint catgut embedding for insomnia: Protocol for a systematic review and data mining

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a common sleep disorder characterized by chronically disturbed sleep or loss of sleep, and even cognitive dysfunction. Acupoint catgut embedding is widely used to treat sleep disorders. However, there is no systematic review and data mining of the effectiveness and potential acupoints prescription of acupoint catgut embedding for insomnia. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Springer, Wanfang database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Chinese Science and Technology Journals Database, and 2 clinical trial registration center will be included. The search time will be established from each database to December 30, 2019. The outcome measures will be Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), clinical effective rate, International Unified Sleep Efficiency Value (IUSEV) and adverse events. Data from RCTs that meets the inclusion criteria will be analyzed through RevMan V.5.3 software. Risk of bias and publication bias will be analyzed to identify the quality of the included studies. Besides, Traditional Chinese Medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS) will be used to analyze the potential acupoints prescriptions. RESULTS: This study will clarify PSQI, IUSEV, clinical effective rate, adverse events, and potential acupoint prescriptions of acupoint catgut embedding for patients with insomnia. CONCLUSION: Our study will provide evidence of acupoint catgut embedding for insomnia, which may be beneficial to practitioners in the field of non-pharmacological interventions. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019144636.