Effect of Gengnian Jing'an paste combined with Yimian herbal pillow on perimenopausal women with insomnia

ZHANG Ying; WU Song; WANG Wenling; MA Yanbo; SHAO Weijun

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-8157.2025.08.021

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of Gengnian Jing'an paste combined with Yimian herbal pillow on improvement of sleep and psychological status of perimenopausal women with insomnia.Methods A total of 120 perimeno-pausal women with insomnia who were treated in the Qinhuangdao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from September 2020 to September 2023 were recruited as the research subjects and randomly divided into the western medicine group(30 pa-tients,conventional western medicine therapy),the Jing'an paste group(30 patients,Gengnian Jing'an paste),the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group(30 patients,Gengnian Jing'an paste combined with Yimian herbal pillow)and the western medicine plus herbal pillow group(30 patients,conventional western medicine combined with Yimian herbal pillow).The clinical effica-cy,traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndromes scores,sleep quality,polysomnogram,menopausal symptom score,psycho-logical status,levels of neurotransmitters and incidence rates of adverse reactions were compared among the four groups.The duration of use of drug pillow was compared between the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group and the western medicine plus herbal pillow group.Results The total effective rate of treatment was higher in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group(93.33%,28/30 vs 80.00%,24/30 vs 70.00%,21/30 vs 60.00%,18/30)(χ2=9.958,P=0.019).The scores of TCM syndromes were lower in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and west-ern medicine group after the treatment for 4 weeks(all P<0.05).After 4 weeks of treatment,the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score,sleep after wakefulness onset and sleep onset latency were lower in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group(F=62.930,402.700,154.900,all P<0.05).While the total sleep time was longer in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group(F=507.000,P<0.05).After 4 weeks of treatment,the menopausal symptom score and norepinephrine were lower in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group(F=78.980,19.630,both P<0.05),while the 5-hydroxytryptamine was higher in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group(F=150.800,P<0.05).The tenacity,self-improvement,and optimism scores were higher in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group than in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,the Jing'an paste group and the western medicine group after 4 weeks of treatment(F=60.920,49.470,104.600,P<0.05).No statistical differences were observed in the incidence rates of adverse reactions among the four groups after 4 weeks of treatment(P>0.05).After 4 weeks of treatment,the duration of herbal pillow use of the perimenopausal women with insomnia was(7.52±2.16)h/d in the western medicine plus herbal pillow group,(7.19±2.24)h/d in the Jing'an paste plus herbal pillow group(t=0.581,P=0.564).Conclusion Gengnian Jing'an paste combined with Yimian herbal pillow has good efficacy in the treatment of the perimenopausal women with insomnia,and it can improve the sleep quality,relieve the sleep and menopausal symptoms,regulate the neurotransmitters levels,and improve the psychological status without increasing the incidence rates of adverse reactions.