Auricular Acupressure on Specific Points for Hemodialysis Patients with Insomnia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122724
• Publication Date: 2015-04-15T19:25:18Z
• Authors: Chuan Zou; Lihong Yang; Yuchi Wu; Guobin Su; Shuhui Chen; Xinfeng Guo; Xiuqing Wu; Xusheng Liu; Qizhan Lin
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Patient Dropouts; Time Factors; Science; Pilot Projects; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Double-Blind Method; Renal Dialysis; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Humans; Ear, External; Aged; Q; R; Middle Aged; Acupressure; 16. Peace & justice; 3. Good health; Treatment Outcome; Medicine; Female; Acupuncture Points; Research Article

To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a randomized controlled trial compared auricular acupressure (AA) on specific acupoints with AA on non-specific acupoints for treating maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients with insomnia.Sixty three (63) eligible subjects were randomly assigned into either AA group received AA on specific acupoints (n=32), or sham AA (SAA) group received AA on points irrelevant to insomnia treatment (n=31) for eight weeks. All participants were followed up for 12 weeks after treatments. The primary outcome was clinical response at eight weeks after randomization, defined as a reduction of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) global score by 3 points and more.Fifty-eight (58) participants completed the trial and five dropped out. Twenty participants in AA group (62.5%) and ten in SAA group (32.3%) responded to the eight-week interventions (χ2 = 5.77, P = 0.02). PSQI global score declined 3.75 ± 4.36 (95%CI -5.32, -2.18) and 2.26 ± 3.89 (95%CI -3.68, -0.83) in AA group and SAA group respectively. Three participants died during the follow-up period. No evidence supported their deaths were related to the AA intervention. No other adverse event was observed.Feasibility and logistics of patient recruitment, randomization procedure, blinding approach, interventions application and outcome assessment had been tested in this pilot trial. The preliminary data appeared to show a favorable result on AA treatment. A full-scale trial is warranted.Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR-TRC-12002272.