Effectiveness of auricular acupressure for acute postoperative pain after surgery. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Effectiveness of Auricular Acupressure for Acute Postoperative Pain after Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Chin J Integr Med. 2019 Mar ;25(3):225-232. Epub 2019 Feb 28. PMID: 30815805
Qin Zhong
OBJECTIVE: To identify the effectiveness of auricular acupressure (AA) in patients with acute postoperative pain after surgery by systematic review.
METHODS: A search of randomized controlled trials was conducted in 5 English medical electronic databases and 4 Chinese databases. Two reviewers independently retrieved related studies, assessed the methodological quality, and extracted data with a standardized data form. Meta-analyses were performed using all time-points meta-analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 26 studies with 1,682 participants were included. Results showed that compared with conventional therapy, AA significantly improved the total effective rate [risk ratio=1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13 to 1.37, Plt;0.0001; heterogeneity: Plt;0.0001, I=85%]. In the subgroup analysis, the results changed in different follow-up time and surgery categories. The pain relief in the AA group might be the most significant at 72 h after surgery (mean difference=-0.85, 95% CI,-1.20 to-0.50, Plt;0.0001) and in abdominal surgery (mean difference=-1.15, 95% CI,-1.41 to-0.90, Plt;0.0001). Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the results of this meta-analysis were stable. No serious adverse effects were recorded.
CONCLUSION: It was recommended to provide AA to patients with acute postoperative pain. However, a more accurate estimate of the effect requires further rigorously designed large-scale and high-quality RCTs for improving acute postoperative pain after surgery.