Objective To investigate the possible mechanism of effect of liver depression on perimenopausal women with nonorganic insomnia. Methods One hundred and two cases of perimenopausal women with nonorganic insomnia were collected

according to the "syndrome element differentiation"

the liver depression syndrome score and liver depression

graded the chosen perimenopausal women

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index（ PSQI） scale was used to evaluate the severity of insomnia

the serum interleukin-1β（ IL-1β）

tumor necrosis factor-α（ TNF-α） follicle stimulating hormone（ FSH）

progesterone（ LH）

estradiol（ E2） level were tested. Correlation analysis of liver depression syndrome element score

liver depression grade

PSQI score

FSH

LH

E2 and IL-1β TNF-α were taken.Results There is no significant correlation between IL-1β

TNF-α and FSH

LH

E2（ P > 0. 05）; IL-1β

TNF-αare positively correlated with liver depression syndrome score（ P < 0. 05）; IL-1β is positively correlated with TNF-α（ P < 0. 001）; The score of PSQI is positively correlated with liver depression syndrome element score（ P < 0. 001）.The higher the grade of liver depression

IL-1β and TNF-α level are higher

and the difference of them in different grades of liver depression have statistical significance（ P = 0. 003

P = 0. 019）. Compared with grade 0 of liver depression

IL-1β of grade 2 and grade 3

TNF-α of grade 3 increased significantly（ P < 0. 01）; Compared with grade1 of liver depression

both IL-1β and TNF-α of grade 3 increased significantly（ P < 0. 01）. Conclusion Cytokine IL-1β and TNF-α may be involved in the occurrence and the development of nonorganic insomnia of perimenopausal women caused by liver depression.