Effectiveness of acupressure in managing nausea, vomiting, and psychosocial well-being during pregnancy.
Yeliz Doğan Merih, Zehra Acar, Özlem Karabulut and 1 others
PMID 42506973WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant women wearing acupressure wristbands reported less severe nausea and vomiting than women wearing placebo wristbands.
Psychosocial well-being improved in both groups, with no extra benefit from acupressure.
Key findings
01Post-intervention mean nausea and vomiting severity was 5.26 on a 3 to 15 scale in the acupressure group and 7.86 in the placebo group, and the difference was statistically significant.
02Acupressure group mean severity fell from 9.65 at baseline to 5.26 on day five with a significant within-group reduction; placebo group moved from 9.62 to 7.86 without a significant change.
03Psychosocial well-being mean scores rose from 2.94 to 3.22 in the acupressure group and from 2.99 to 3.16 in the placebo group on a 1 to 5 mean scale, but the post-intervention difference was not statistically significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used convenience sampling at one hospital outpatient clinic in Türkiye, so results may not apply to other settings or patients. The paper describes a quasi-experimental design despite random allocation. The sample was relatively small: 70 enrolled and 61 analysed, with 9 withdrawals. The study was conducted at a single centre with a relatively small sample, which restricts generalizability. Long-term effects were not assessed. Both groups received the same education, so the study cannot separate the effect of education or wearing a band from acupressure for psychosocial outcomes. The increase in psychosocial well-being in the control group suggests placebo effects could not be entirely excluded.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that acupressure improves psychosocial well-being more than the education and placebo wristband. Both groups received the same education and wore a wristband, and the final difference between acupressure and placebo was not significant.