School of Chinese Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Age Ageing. 2017 Nov 1;46(6):957-964. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afx050.
'Frailty' is being increasing recognised as a geriatric syndrome of growing importance in the medical field. Acupressure is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment, which may serve to improve the quality of life (QOL) or prevent the progressive advancement of frailty in the aged population.
to investigate the effects of a 12-week, TCM-principle guided acupressure intervention on the QOL of the frail older people living in the community.
this is a randomised controlled trial with waitlist control design. Treatment group received 15 min of acupressure treatment, four times a week from both TCM practitioners and trained caregivers for 12 consecutive weeks. The waitlist control group served as a care-as-usual comparison to the treatment group for the 1st 12 weeks and then received the same treatment. Intention-to-treat principle was followed and mixed-effects models were used for data analysis.
the mean age of the participants was 76.12 ± 7.08, with a mean Tilburg frailty index score of 7.13 ± 1.76. Significant between-group differences were found in the change of physical domain score of WHOQOL-BREF (P = 0.001); change of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (P < 0.001) and pain intensity (P = 0.006) with the treatment group demonstrating greater improvement. Within-group effect size analysis also indicated that the acupressure protocol has significant impact on these areas.
the study's outcomes indicated that the acupressure protocol, when applied continuously for 12 weeks, 3-4 times a week, could improve the general QOL of frail older people living in community dwellings.
“虚弱”作为一种老年综合征，在医学领域日益受到重视。穴位按压是一种非药物、非侵入性的中医（TCM）治疗方法，可能有助于提高生活质量（QOL）或预防老年人群中虚弱的进展。
探讨为期 12 周、以中医理论为指导的穴位按压干预对社区内虚弱老年人生活质量的影响。
这是一项随机对照试验，采用等待名单对照设计。治疗组接受 TCM 从业者和经过培训的护理人员每周 4 次、每次 15 分钟的穴位按压治疗，连续 12 周。等待名单对照组在第 1 至 12 周作为治疗组的常规护理对照，然后接受相同的治疗。采用意向治疗原则，使用混合效应模型进行数据分析。
参与者的平均年龄为 76.12 ± 7.08 岁，平均 Tilburg 虚弱指数评分为 7.13 ± 1.76。在 WHOQOL-BREF 的身体领域评分变化（P = 0.001）、匹兹堡睡眠质量指数（P < 0.001）和疼痛强度（P = 0.006）方面，治疗组与对照组之间存在显著的组间差异，治疗组的改善更为显著。组内效应量分析也表明，穴位按压方案对这些领域有显著影响。
该研究结果表明，连续 12 周、每周 3-4 次进行穴位按压方案，可改善居住在社区的虚弱老年人的总体生活质量。
