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This randomised controlled trial, published in 2026, investigated whether a combined traditional Chinese medicine approach could improve outcomes in children with obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome — a condition characterised by snoring, nasal congestion, and interrupted breathing during sleep.
Sixty children with an average age of 7.9 years were divided equally into two groups. One group received a modified Lize Tongqi herbal decoction alongside acupuncture, moxibustion, and stimulation of the Xinwu acupoint, administered twice weekly over eight weeks. The other group received standard Western medicine — oral montelukast each night and mometasone furoate nasal spray each night — for the same duration.
After treatment, children in the traditional Chinese medicine group showed significantly greater reductions in nasal congestion, nighttime snoring, and mouth breathing compared with those receiving conventional Western medicine. Improvements in quality of life, as measured by the Obstructive Sleep Apnoea-18 questionnaire, and reductions in the adenoid-to-nasopharynx ratio — an indicator of airway obstruction — were also significantly greater in the traditional Chinese medicine group. No adverse events were recorded in either group.
The authors propose this combined approach as a viable, non-surgical treatment option for paediatric snoring, though the small sample size of thirty participants per group warrants cautious interpretation of the findings.
Conclusion: This small randomised controlled trial found that combining Lize Tongqi decoction with acupuncture, moxibustion, and Xinwu acupoint stimulation produced superior symptom relief and quality-of-life improvements compared with standard Western drug therapy in children with obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome.
Source: Wang YJ, Li MY, Zheng Y and colleagues. International journal of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42687844) · doi:10.5414/CP205015
