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Updated: Aug 2, 2025
Author Spotlight: Alleviating Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy with Safe and Effective Auricular Acupuncture
Published on: August 4, 2023
Effect of auricular acupressure on postpartum blues: A randomized sham controlled trial
Zainab Alimoradi1, Somayeh Asgari2, Sanaz Barghamadi2
1Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
Aim:
To investigate the effect of auricular acupressure on the severity of postpartum blues.
Methods:
A randomized sham controlled trial was conducted from February to November 2021, with 74 participants who were randomly allocated into two groups of either routine care + auricular acupressure (n = 37), or routine care + sham control (n = 37). Vacaria seeds with special non-latex adhesives were used to perform auricular acupressure on seven ear acupoints. There were two intervention sessions with an interval of five days. In the sham group, special non-latex adhesives without vacaria seeds were attached in the same acupoints as the intervention group. Severity of postpartum blues, fatigue, maternal-infant attachment, and postpartum depression were assessed.
Results:
Auricular acupressure was associated with significant effect in reduction of postpartum blues on 10th and 15th days after childbirth (SMD = -2.77 and -2.15 respectively), postpartum depression on the 21st day after childbirth (SMD = -0.74), and maternal fatigue on 10th, 15th and 21st days after childbirth (SMD = -2.07, -1.30 and -1.32, respectively). Also, maternal-infant attachment was increased significantly on the 21st day after childbirth (SMD = 1.95).
Conclusion:
Auricular acupressure was effective in reducing postpartum blues and depression, reducing maternal fatigue, and increasing maternal-infant attachment in the short-term after childbirth.
Trial Registration:
Registered prospectively in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (ID: IRCT20180218038789N2).
