Persistent cancer related fatigue (PCRF) is a common symptom experienced by many cancer survivors, which may last for as long as 10 years following treatment. PCRF is currently under diagnosed, with between 20% to \>60% of survivors experiencing this symptom. Currently there are few effective treatment options for these patients. Acupressure offers a potential low-toxicity self-administered treatment option to treat PCRF. The investigators performed a pilot randomized single-blinded controlled trial of acupressure in cancer survivors experiencing moderate to severe PCRF. Potential participants were excluded if they had other causes of fatigue such as anemia, malnutrition, or chronic fatigue syndrome. Participants were randomized to one of three treatment groups: 1. relaxation acupressure (RA), 2. high intensity stimulatory acupressure (HIS), and 3. low intensity stimulatory acupressure (LIS). Participants performed acupressure for 12 weeks between 3 to 14 times per week depending on group. Fatigue was measured with the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). Secondary outcomes included beliefs and expectations, assessment of blinding, compliance to treatment, demographics, and clinical parameters. The effect of group on BFI was assessed with ANOVA and linear regression. Correlations were also made between compliance and change in BFI.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
43
University of Michigan Health System
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
To examine the effect of two intensities of self-administered stimulating acupressure compared to self-administered relaxation acupressure on severity of chronic fatigue in people diagnosed with cancer who had completed all cancer therapies
Time frame: Once per week for 13 weeks
Secondary objects were to evaluate the safety, tolerability, adherence, blinding and beliefs/expectation of participants of the three acupressure treatments
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