Shahdad Amin, Fadaee Aghdam Nasrin, Goli Shahrbanoo, Binesh Ehsan, Nourian Javad, Khajeh Mahboobeh
Student Research Committee, Nursing and Midwifery School Shahroud University of Medical Sciences Shahroud Iran.
Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery Shahroud University of Medical Sciences Shahroud Iran.
Health Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 22;6(7):e1427. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.1427. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Experiencing respiratory symptoms, especially dyspnea and decreased oxygen saturation (SpO) level in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with increased mortality. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation of acupoints (Acu-TENS) on the respiratory outcomes of COVID-19 patients with moderate pulmonary involvement.
In these three-blind parallel randomized clinical trials, 84 patients with COVID-19 admitted to a referral hospital were selected by the convenience sampling method. Participants were randomly assigned to Acu-TENS ( = 42) and control ( = 42) groups. The Acu-TENS group received Acu-TENS over the EX-B1 (Dingchuan) acupuncture point for 45 min for four consecutive days, while participants in the control group received no intervention. Participants' respiratory outcomes, including oxygen saturation, vital signs, and the severity of dyspnea, were evaluated before and after each intervention on four consecutive days. In addition, the need for mechanical ventilation on Days 4, 8, and 12 and the disease's outcome (death or survival) were recorded in SPSS software version 16, and finally, data were analyzed using an independent samples -test.
SpO, the number of patients without the need for mechanical ventilation, and patient survival after the intervention were significantly higher in the Acu-TENS group compared with the control group (<0.001). However, respiratory rate, heart rate, and the severity of dyspnea after the intervention were not significantly different between the two groups ( > 0.05).
The use of Acu-TENS could improve SpO as a respiratory outcome of patients with COVID-19 with moderate pulmonary involvement and it can be used as a therapeutic intervention.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）患者出现呼吸道症状，尤其是呼吸困难和氧饱和度（SpO）水平降低，与死亡率增加相关。本研究旨在探讨穴位经皮电刺激（Acu-TENS）对中度肺部受累的COVID-19患者呼吸结局的影响。
在这些三盲平行随机临床试验中，采用便利抽样法选取了84例入住转诊医院的COVID-19患者。参与者被随机分为Acu-TENS组（n = 42）和对照组（n = 42）。Acu-TENS组在双侧肺俞穴（EX-B1）进行Acu-TENS治疗，每次45分钟，连续4天，而对照组不进行干预。在连续4天的每次干预前后，评估参与者的呼吸结局，包括氧饱和度、生命体征和呼吸困难的严重程度。此外，记录第4、8和12天机械通气的需求以及疾病结局（死亡或存活），并使用SPSS 16.0软件进行分析，最后采用独立样本t检验进行数据分析。
与对照组相比，Acu-TENS组干预后的SpO、无需机械通气的患者数量和患者存活率显著更高（P < 0.001）。然而，两组干预后的呼吸频率、心率和呼吸困难严重程度无显著差异（P > 0.05）。
使用Acu-TENS可改善中度肺部受累的COVID-19患者的SpO这一呼吸结局，可作为一种治疗干预措施。
