The Herbal Medicine Suanzaoren (Ziziphi Spinosae Semen) for Sleep Quality Improvements: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Efficacy of Zhumian Tang formula granules combined with eszopiclone for the treatment of poor sleep quality: a multi-center, randomized controlled, superiority trial

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Zhumian Tang formula granules combined with eszopiclone for treating poor sleep quality.

METHODS

This multi-center, dynamic block-randomized, parallel-group superiority clinical trial included 130 patients. The combined treatment group received Zhumian Tang formula granules combined with eszopiclone treatment, and the control group received eszopiclone treatment only. The group allocation ratio was 1∶1. The duration of treatment was 2 weeks. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires before treatment, after 1 week of the intervention, after 2 weeks of the intervention, and at the follow-up on week 3. The primary outcomes were the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score and the total effective rate of treatment. The secondary outcome was the rate of adverse effects.

RESULTS

Compared with the eszopiclone treatment group, the PSQI score of the combined treatment group was significantly lower after 2 weeks of the intervention (6.98 vs 8.26, P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the mean PSQI score after 1 week of the intervention (9.89 vs 9.15, P = 0.124). After the follow-up on week 3, the PSQI score of the combined treatment group remained significantly lower than that of the eszopiclone treatment group (6.12 vs 8.31, P < 0.001). The total effective rates of treatment of the combined group and the eszopiclone group were 36.92% vs 35.38% (Z = 0.033, P = 0.855) after 1 week of the intervention, 83.08% vs 58.46% (Z = 9.519, P < 0.05) after 2 weeks of the intervention, and 83.08% vs 61.54% (Z = 7.530, P < 0.05) and after the follow-up on week 3, respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall rate of adverse reactions between the combined and eszopiclone treatment groups (21.53% vs 31.8%, P = 0.318).

CONCLUSION

The combination of Zhumian Tang formula granules with eszopiclone was found to be safe and more effective in improving sleep quality than eszopiclone alone. Traditional Chinese medicine can enhance the effectiveness of Western medicine in the treatment of insomnia.

Rapid evaluation of Ziziphi Spinosae Semen and its adulterants based on the combination of FT-NIR and multivariate algorithms

Ziziphi Spinosae Semen (ZSS) is a valued seed renowned for its sedative and sleep-enhancing properties. However, the price increase has been accompanied by adulteration. In this study, chromaticity analysis and Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) combined with multivariate algorithms were employed to identify the adulteration and quantitatively predict the adulteration ratio. The findings suggested that the utilization of chromaticity extractor was insufficient for identification of adulteration ratio. The raw spectrum of ZMS and HAS adulterants extracted by FT-NIR was processed by SNV + CARS and 1d + SG + ICO respectively, the average accuracy of machine learning classification model was improved from 77.06 % to 97.58 %. Furthermore, the R2 values of the calibration and prediction set of the two quantitative prediction regression models of adulteration ratio are greater than 0.99, demonstrating excellent linearity and predictive accuracy. Overall, this study demonstrated that FT-NIR combined with multivariate algorithms provided a significant approach to addressing the growing issue of ZSS adulteration.