RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Auricular acupressure for cancer-related fatigue during lung cancer chemotherapy: a randomised trial
JF BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
JO BMJ Support Palliat Care
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP 32
OP 39
DO 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001937
VO 11
IS 1
A1 Lu Lin
A1 Yan Zhang
A1 Hong Ying Qian
A1 Jia Li Xu
A1 Cong Yan Xie
A1 Bei Dong
A1 Li Tian
YR 2021
UL http://spcare.bmj.com/content/11/1/32.abstract
AB Purpose To evaluate the effect of auricular acupressure (AA) on cancer-related fatigue (CRF), sleep disturbance and anxiety in lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.Materials and methods Patients were recruited from the respiratory department of a general hospital and were randomised into three groups. A 9-week course of AA using Semen Vaccariae (SV) (Group A)/AA using magnetic beads (Group B)/routine care (Group C) was implemented. CRF scores were used as the primary outcome while the sleep and anxiety scores were the secondary outcomes. Analysis of variance and least significant difference t-test were used to determine the intergroup differences and paired-sample t-test was used for the intragroup comparison.Results 100 lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were included. Compared with Group C, AA could significantly alleviate CRF (F:24.63, p<0.01), especially for physical and affective fatigue and Group A was more effective for managing physical fatigue than Group B in per-protocol (PP) (−1.75 (−2.69 to –0.82), p<0.01)/Intention to Treat analysis (ITT) (−1.41 (−2.39 to –0.41), p=0.01) analysis. However, AA had no effect on cognitive fatigue. Compared with Group C, only Group A produced significant improvements in sleep quality in PP analysis (−1.17 (−2.23 to –0.10), p=0.03) while it yielded negative results in ITT analysis (−0.82 (−1.74 to 0.10), p=0.08). Compared with Group C, AA could significantly reduce anxiety in PP analysis (F:9.35, p<0.01) while there was no statistical difference between Group B and Group C (−0.95 (−2.81 to 0.90), p=0.31), Group A and Group B (−1.26 (−3.12 to 0.59), p=0.18) in ITT analysis.Conclusion AA can alleviate CRF of lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, especially for physical and affective fatigue. AA using SV is more effective for physical fatigue while AA using magnetic beads works better for anxiety. However, AA cannot improve the sleep quality.Trial registration number ISRCTNregistry (ISRCTN16408424).