The Effect of Acupressure on Fasting Blood Glucose and Glycosylated Hemoglobin Levels in Diabetic Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Sied Saeed Najafi, Hassan Ghorbani, Amin Kordi Yoosefinejad and 1 others
PMID 33875967WHAT IT FOUND
Acupressure at one leg point did not beat fake acupressure or usual care on blood glucose or long-term sugar marker over 12 weeks.
In the acupressure group alone, long-term sugar marker fell from 8.61 to 8.1.
Key findings
01No significant differences were found among the acupressure, placebo acupressure, and control groups in blood glucose or glycosylated hemoglobin levels.
02Within the acupressure group, glycosylated hemoglobin fell from 8.61±1.96 to 8.1±1.62 with a significant before-after difference (P=0.02), while the control and placebo groups did not show significant before-after differences.
03Blood glucose did not show a significant before-after difference in any group (intervention P=0.07, placebo P=0.41, control P=0.54).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Eight patients refused to continue because they were reluctant to continue the long intervention process. After the first week, patients or companions performed the acupressure themselves for 11 weeks, so how consistently it was done is unclear. The authors noted that six minutes per session may have been too short because acupressure was tedious for patients. The trial used only ST36 acupressure, so it does not show what multi-point acupressure would do. The between-group comparisons were null, so the within-group glycosylated hemoglobin change cannot be treated as proof of effect. No adverse events or safety outcomes were reported in the supplied text.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ST36 acupressure lowers blood glucose or glycosylated hemoglobin. The trial found no significant difference among the acupressure, fake acupressure, and control groups for either outcome. The only significant change was a within-group glycosylated hemoglobin change in the acupressure group. The acupressure group also received medication and diabetes education, so that within-group change cannot be assigned to acupressure alone.