Participants in this randomized, blinded, controlled trial were 91 elective ambulatory surgery patients (ages 19–66 yr) with ASA I and II physical status, no history of psychiatric illness, and no prior acupuncture experience.Participants were randomized to three intervention groups: Traditional Chinese Medicine group (TCM); Relaxation group; Control group.
Sample Count
91
Age
19-66
Control
Sham
Control group(n=27)
Experiment
Relaxation group(n=32); Traditional Chinese Medicine group (TCM)(n=31)
Description All participants received three ear acupuncture press needles at the nondominant side (the opposite side of the patient’s dominant hand) of their external ear for 30 min without any stimulation.
Anesthesia Method
GA
Clinical Trial Type
random
Contraindications
Patients taking anxiolytic herbs (e.g.,kava kava) or psychotropic medications were excluded
Effector
A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA demonstrated a significant group difference (F2,88=4.5,P= 0.014), a group × time interaction (F2,88=3.5,P= 0.02), and a time difference (F1,88=8.2,P= 0.001) in anxiety levels among the three study groups.Post hocanalysis with one-way ANOVA demonstrated no difference in STAIS scores among the groups before intervention (47 ± 11 versus 46 ± 12 versus 45 ± 13,P= not significant). After the intervention, however, there were significant differences among the three groups (38 ± 9 versus 35 ± 8 versus 40 ± 14,P= 0.014). The Scheffé test for multiple comparisons has demonstrated that patients in the Relaxation group were significantly less anxious compared with patients in the Control group (P= 0.01) (Fig. 2). The anxiety of patients in the TCM group, however, did not differ significantly from that of those in the Control group (P= 0.28) or in the Relaxation group (P= 0.37).
