TOPLINE:

Acupressure performed by patients themselves was associated with greater improvements in cancer-related fatigue among ovarian cancer survivors, with nearly 60% achieving normal fatigue levels at 6 weeks compared with 17.6% receiving usual care and 51% receiving sham self-acupressure.

METHODOLOGY:

• Recent guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Integrative Oncology recognize self-administered acupressure (or self-acupressure) as a tool to help reduce cancer-related fatigue, though most studies have focused on breast cancer survivors.
• To assess whether self-acupressure can improve cancer-related fatigue in ovarian cancer survivors, researchers conducted a three-arm randomized clinical trial comparing 6 weeks of once-daily self-acupressure with sham self-acupressure — both learned via mobile app — and usual care.
• A total of 171 women (mean age, 56 years) were randomly assigned, with 53 receiving self-acupressure, 56 receiving sham self-acupressure, and 51 receiving usual care. Participants in the self-acupressure arm performed daily acupressure on five specific acupoints for 3 minutes per point, totaling 27 minutes daily for 6 weeks.
• Women were moderately fatigued at baseline, with mean fatigue scores of 5.51 on the Brief Fatigue Inventory, which measures fatigue severity and interference on a scale of 0-10 (with normal fatigue levels generally in the 0-3 score range).
• The primary outcome was change in Brief Fatigue Inventory score from baseline to week 6; secondary outcomes included sleep quality and quality of life assessed up to week 24.

TAKEAWAY:

• At the end of treatment (week 6), 58.5% of individuals in the self-acupressure group achieved clinically normal fatigue levels compared with 51.1% in the sham acupressure arm and 17.6% in the usual care arm.
• At week 6, individuals in the self-acupressure group had significantly better reductions in fatigue than those receiving usual care (mean difference, -1.23; P = .005), with benefits persisting at 24 weeks (mean difference, -1.38; P = .002).
• Compared with usual care, sham acupressure was associated with reductions in fatigue, but the difference was not statistically significant (mean difference, -0.91; 95% CI, -1.83 to 0.02). Changes in fatigue scores also did not differ significantly between the sham and self-acupressure groups.
• Self-acupressure was associated with significantly better quality-of-life outcomes than usual care (odds ratio [OR], 2.85; P = .02), with benefits maintained at 24 weeks. No significant differences were observed between arms for sleep quality at any timepoint. True and sham self-acupressure groups did not report adverse events.

IN PRACTICE:

“Self-acupressure, taught via a mobile app, offered a safe and low-cost option for managing cancer fatigue,” the study authors concluded.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Suzanna M. Zick, ND, MPH, Department of Family Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, was published online on February 5 in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

More participants withdrew from the self-acupressure arms (29% in the true self-acupressure group and 22% in the sham group) compared with 7% in the usual care arm, suggesting that self-acupressure may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, the study population was predominantly non-Hispanic White (86%), which limited the ability to generalize findings to other racial and ethnic groups.

DISCLOSURES:

The study received support from the US Department of Defense and the US Army Medical Research and Development Command. Zick reported receiving nonfinancial support as owner and codeveloper of the MeTime Acupressure app. Richard Harris, PhD, disclosed receiving nonfinancial support from creating acupressure apps for smartphones. Grant Kruger, PhD, reported receiving funding from Arbor Medical Innovations and serving as founder and chief executive officer with equity in the company, along with holding a patent for the massage tool.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.