Previous studies have shown that
acupressure bands can reduce
chemotherapy-related
nausea. Patients' expectations of efficacy account for part of this outcome. We conducted a three-arm randomized clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of
acupressure bands in controlling
radiation therapy-induced
nausea and to test whether an informational manipulation designed to increase expectation of efficacy would enhance the effectiveness of the
acupressure bands. Patients who experienced
nausea at prior treatments were randomized to either standard care (Arm 1, n=29) or standard care plus
acupressure bands with either neutral (Arm 2,
n=30) or positive (Arm 3, n=29) information regarding the efficacy of the bands. Patients reported
nausea for two days prior to randomization (baseline) and for five days following using a seven-point semantic rating scale (1=not nauseated to 7=extremely nauseated). Patients in Arms 2 and 3 combined reported greater reduction in average
nausea than patients in Arm 1 (P=0.01; mean(bands)=0.70, mean(no bands)=0.10). This equates to a 23.8% decrease in
nausea in the band groups compared to a 4.8% decrease in the control group,
a 19% difference. The informational manipulation failed to alter efficacy expectations and there was no statistically significant difference in
nausea between patients in Arms 2 and 3.
Acupressure bands are an effective, low-cost, nonintrusive, well-accepted, and safe adjunct to standard
antiemetic medication. An attempt to boost the efficacy of the
acupressure bands by providing positive information was not successful.