Review Article

Prescription of Chinese Herbal Medicine and Selection of Acupoints in Pattern-Based Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Insomnia: A Systematic Review

Table 1

The 10 most common TCM patterns diagnosed in patients with insomnia.

TCM patternChinese nameNumber of subjects diagnosed with the TCM pattern (%)
(total N = 17916)
Number of studies that examined the TCM pattern (%)
(total N = 227)

Deficiency of both the heart and spleen 4056 (22.6)180 (79.3)
Hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency 2926 (16.3)132 (58.1)
Liver-qi stagnation transforming into fire 1817 (10.1)91 (40.0)
Heart-kidney noninteraction 1157 (6.5)60 (26.4)
Internal disturbance of phlegm heat 904 (5.0)78 (34.4)
Qi deficiency of the heart and gallbladder 838 (4.7)63 (27.8)
Liver fire flaming upward 456 (2.5)25 (11.0)
Heart deficiency with timidity 356 (2.0)31 (13.7)
Disharmony between spleen and stomach 325 (1.8)19 (8.4)
Stomach disharmony 162 (0.9)17 (7.5)