The Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Acupressure for Nausea and Vomiting in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

Abstract

Purpose: This study was to analyze the characteristics and effect size of intervention studies that used acupressure for the control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). Methods: Nine electronic databases including Korea Education Research and Information, the National Assembly Library, KISS, Korea Med, NDSL, PubMed, EBSCO, Cochrane library, and OVID (to December, 2009) were searched. Thirteen studies of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials (CCTs) were selected. Data were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 18.0. Results: Overall effect size of acupressure was moderate (0.684). Nausea had a moderate effect size (0.770) and nausea and vomiting had a high effect size (0.899). Acupressure using sticker needles had a high effect size (1.368) among finger acupressure, si-acupuncture, and wrist band treatment. Conclusion: This study suggests that acupressure using sticker needles on the spots of nei-guan, chok-samni and hap-kok can reduce the levels of nausea and vomiting in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. For improving the reliability of the meta-analysis results, further randomized controlled trials with better study methodology are needed.