The efficacy of acupressure in managing opioid-induced constipation: Single-blind a randomized controlled study
Abstract Purpose Opioid-induced constipation is one of the heath problems with a negative impact on the quality of life. This randomized-controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of acupressure therapy on the management of opioid-induced constipation. Methods The trial was conducted on 140 patients, who were assigned to the acupressure (n = 70) and the control groups (n = 70). In addition to routine care, patients in the acupressure group received 8-min acupressure from the Zhongwan (CV12), Guanyuan (CV4) and Tianshu (ST25) acupoints once a day for 4 weeks. The outcomes included Defacationa Diary (DD), Visual Analog Scale Questionnaire (VASQ) and Patient assessment of constipation quality of life questionnaire (PAC-QOL). Results DD scores obtained by the acupressure and the control groups. There was a statistically significant difference between the acupressure and control groups in terms of stool consistency (2.22 ± .49 vs 1.80 ± .55) (p = 0.001), straining (1.98 ± .71 vs 2.91 ± .37) (p = 0.001), incomplete evacuation (0.37 ± .29 vs 0.61 ± .43) (p = 0.001), stool amount (0.93 ± .14 vs .95 ± .20) (p = 0.001) and the number of defecations (0.70 ± .22 vs 0.46 ± .29), (p = 0.001) measured at the fifth week. Besides, with the exception of stool amount, there was a statistically significant increase in the DD scores obtained by the acupressure group between the first and the fifth weeks. Inter-group comparison of the pre-test and post-test scores showed that acupressure group obtained statistically significantly higher scores from the PAC-QOL (p = .0001). Conclusions Findings of this trial suggested that 4-week acupressure was an effective way to improve the quality of life and reduce both subjective and objective constipation symptoms in patients with opioid-induced constipations.