A comparison of the effect of pressure on the KID21 (Youmen) and P6 (Neiguan) points on the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy

Efficacy and safety of acupressure in nausea and vomiting during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupressure on nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Springer, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for all randomized controlled trials (RCT) of treating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy by acupressure from the inception date of database to July 31st, 2023. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted independently by researchers. The methodological quality of included studies was evaluated by the Cochrane Collaboration's bias risk assessment tool, meta-analysis by Stata 17.0 software, and publication bias by Begg's test.

RESULTS

A total of 11 RCTs involving 1378 pregnant women were included in this review, which was assessed to be moderate quality. 10 RCTs involving 1298 pregnant women were assessed for the meta-analysis. The results revealed that acupressure showed significant difference on improvement in symptom score compared with sham acupressure (pooled MD, - 1.33; 95%CI [- 2.06, - 0.61]; P < 0.001) or control group (pooled MD, - 0.73; 95%CI [- 1.08, - 0.39]; P < 0.001), and incidence of effective rate compared with sham acupressure group (pooled RR, 1.78; 95%CI [1.03, 3.07]; P = 0.039). However, no statistical significance was found between acupressure and control group (pooled RR, 4.53; 95%CI [0.67, 30.48]; P = 0.120) on effective rate. On comparing acupressure with sham acupressure, there was no beneficial effect on preventing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (pooled RR, 0.83; 95%CI [0.50, 1.38]; P = 0.476), shortening the duration of hospital stay (pooled MD, - 0.78; 95%CI [- 1.98, 0.41]; P = 0.199) and improving patient satisfaction (pooled RR, 1.36; 95%CI [0.47, 3.91]; P = 0.570). Begg's test did not reveal any publication bias. Only one RCT reported minimal acupressure-related adverse events.

CONCLUSION

Acupressure may have potential favorable or encouraging effect on treating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, but strong supportive data are not yet available. Well-designed and large-scale RCTs should be conducted for assessing and confirming the efficacy and safety of acupressure in nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Integrative and complementary practices to control nausea and vomiting in pregnant women: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

to synthesize the evidence available in the literature on the effects of integrative and complementary practices in nausea and vomiting treatment in pregnant women.

METHOD

a systematic review, reported according to PRISMA and registered in PROSPERO. The search for studies was carried out in 11 databases. To assess risk of bias in randomized clinical trials, the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool (RoB 2) was used.

RESULTS

the final sample consisted of 31 articles, divided into three categories: aromatherapy, phytotherapy and acupuncture. It was observed that aromatherapy with lemon essential oil, ginger capsules, pericardial 6 point acupressure were the interventions that proved to be effective. Less than half of studies reported adverse effects, with mild and transient symptoms predominating. Most articles were classified as "some concern" in risk of bias assessment.

CONCLUSION

the three most effective interventions to control gestational nausea and vomiting were aromatherapy, herbal medicine and acupuncture, with significant results in the assessment of individual studies.

Práticas integrativas e complementares para controle de náuseas e vômitos em gestantes: revisão sistemática

RESUMO Objetivo: sintetizar as evidências disponíveis na literatura sobre os efeitos das práticas integrativas e complementares no tratamento de náusea e vômito em gestantes. Método: revisão sistemática, relatada conforme o PRISMA e registrada no PROSPERO. A busca pelos estudos foi realizada em 11 bases/bancos de dados. Para avaliação do risco de viés dos ensaios clínicos randomizados, utilizou-se a ferramenta Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool (RoB 2). Resultados: a amostra final foi composta por 31 artigos, divididos em três categorias: aromaterapia, fitoterapia e acupuntura. Observou-se que a aromaterapia com óleo essencial de limão, cápsulas de gengibre, acupressão no ponto pericárdio 6 foram as intervenções que se provaram eficazes. Menos da metade dos estudos relatou efeitos adversos, sendo que predominaram sintomas de leve intensidade e transitórios. A maioria dos artigos foi classificada como “alguma preocupação” na avaliação do risco de viés. Conclusão as três intervenções mais eficazes para controle de náusea e vômito gestacional foram aromaterapia, fitoterapia e acupuntura, com resultados significativos na avaliação dos estudos individuais.