title: Auricular acupressure relieves anxiety and fatigue, and reduces cortisol levels in post-caesarean section women: A single-blind, randomised controlled study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety and fatigue adversely affect women's postpartum recovery, but few effective non-pharmacological interventions are known to relieve these two common and unpleasant symptoms.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the efficacy of an auricular acupressure intervention provided during early postpartum in reducing anxiety, fatigue levels, cortisol levels, blood pressure, and heart rate.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-blind, randomised controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 40-bed postpartum unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women who underwent caesarean section were randomly allocated to two groups: intervention (auricular pressure, n=40), and control (usual care, n=40).
  
  
  METHODS
  The intervention group received auricular acupressure on the shenmen acupoint twice a day (9 AM and 5 PM), and the control group received usual postpartum care. Serum cortisol levels were assessed by immunochemiluminescence, with blood pressure and heart rate assessed by electric sphygmomanometer. Anxiety and fatigue symptoms were assessed using the State Anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Fatigue Continuum Form, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 76 women who completed the study, those who received auricular acupressure had significantly lower mean cortisol levels (mean difference=4μg/dl, p<0.05), heart rate (mean difference=9.2 beats/min, p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (mean difference=3.8, p<0.01), and fatigue symptoms (mean difference=7.1, p<0.01) than women in the control group at 5 days postpartum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Auricular acupressure is an effective non-pharmacological method for reducing cortisol levels, heart rate, anxiety, and fatigue in early postpartum after caesarean section.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wuxing Street, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: sykuo@tmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shu-Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yu-Der Road, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: n3603@mail.cmuh.org.tw.
authors.forename: Su-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Hungkuang University, No. 1018, Sec. 6, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: slchen@hk.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shu-Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yu-Der Road, Taichung, Taiwan. Electronic address: tyaling@mail.cmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Ya-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tzeng
mesh_terms: D019050:Acupressure / Q000379:methods; D001007:Anxiety / Q000628:therapy*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002585:Cesarean Section; D004431:Ear, External; D005221:Fatigue / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy; D016037:Single-Blind Method
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Acupressure; Anxiety; Auricular; Caesarean section; Cortisol; Fatigue; Postpartum; Randomised controlled trial