Effects of self-acupressure on the fatigue-sleep disturbance-depression symptom cluster in breast cancer survivors: a phase III randomised controlled trial

Does self-administered acupressure reduce the combined burden of fatigue, poor sleep, and depressive symptoms in women who have had breast cancer?

108 breast cancer survivors randomized — what this means (36 per arm), 93 completed

Three-arm phase III randomized controlled trial — what this means comparing true self-acupressure, sham — what this means self-acupressure, and usual care — what this means, with outcomes at baseline — what this means, post-intervention (week 7), and follow-up — what this means (week 19)

• Group-by-time interactions were significant for all clinical outcomes and quality of life; true acupressure beat both comparison arms on the symptom cluster score at week 7 and week 19 (all p < 0.01)
• Sleep quality (PSQI) and depression (HADS-D) favored true acupressure over both sham — what this means and usual care — what this means at both timepoints (all p < 0.05)
• Fatigue (BFI) was lower than usual care — what this means at both timepoints (p < 0.0001), but only separated from sham — what this means at week 19 (p = 0.0076)
• Quality of life (FACT-B) exceeded usual care — what this means at both timepoints (p < 0.0001); versus sham — what this means it was not significant at week 7 (p = 0.069) but was at week 19 (p = 0.0002)
• No adverse events — what this means reported; healthcare resource use was reported by only one participant in each of the true acupressure (¥931.06) and usual care — what this means (¥2247.44) arms, with ¥2879 spent on instructional video production

Self-acupressure appears safe and was associated with improvements in the fatigue–sleep–depression symptom cluster and quality of life in breast cancer survivors, though some benefits over sham — what this means emerged only at longer follow-up — what this means and cost-effectiveness remains unclear.