The Impact of Gender on the Effectiveness of an Auricular Acupressure Intervention Administered to Community-Dwelling Poor Sleepers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
Hsuan-Man Hung, Hsiao-Ching Chiang, Hui-Ling Wang
PMID 33756521WHAT IT FOUND
Four weeks of self-administered ear acupressure improved sleep quality more than sleep hygiene advice during treatment and at 4 weeks, but not by 8 weeks.
Men showed larger early improvement than women. No clear physical or mental health benefit.
Key findings
01Global sleep quality changed significantly more in the acupressure group than the sleep hygiene group (p = .002), and this difference was significant at 2 and 4 weeks but not at 8 weeks.
02In the acupressure group, global sleep quality scores decreased by 4.64 points in men and by 2.75 points in women from baseline to 4 weeks, with a significant intergender difference (p = .014).
03No significant between-group differences were observed in mean changes for other outcome measures, including perceived physical and mental health.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The control group received sleep hygiene advice, not a sham acupressure patch, so the study cannot separate acupressure effects from expectation or placebo. Individual participants were not randomly assigned; whole communities were assigned, and participants could not be blinded to group allocation. Sleep quality was measured only by self-report. The sleep quality difference was not significant at 8 weeks, so the trial does not show lasting benefit. Most acupressure participants did not keep diaries because of eye problems or literacy, so adherence was checked mainly when patches were replaced. Eight percent of acupressure participants dropped out, while the sleep hygiene group had no dropouts. Baseline habitual sleep efficiency and sleep disturbance scores differed between groups, although the analysis adjusted for baseline differences. The men-versus-women finding came from additional gender analysis, not from the primary randomised comparison.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that ear acupressure gives lasting sleep benefit or works the same for men and women. The sleep quality advantage was significant at 2 and 4 weeks but not at 8 weeks, and men improved more than women at 4 weeks.