Auricular acupressure may reduce negative psychological indications such as depression and anxiety in women undergoing the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation phase of in vitro fertilization.
In this study, infertile women going through in vitro fertilization were enlisted and randomly divided into three separate clusters: a control group, an auricular acupressure treatment group, and a sham acupoint group. The participants were unaware of their respective group allocations. The treatment group was administered auricular acupressure at four specific points namely: Shenmen, Kidney, Endocrine, and Internal genitalia. The sham acupoint set was treated with acupressure at four irrelevant points. The control group was given only the routine in vitro fertilization treatment. The intervention was performed from the first day of hyperstimulation until the day prior to ovum retrieval.
The psychological state of the women, measured using the Symptom Checklist 90, found significant increases in obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, and anxiety within the control and sham acupoint groups. The sham acupoint cohort additionally indicated a rise in somatization symptoms after undergoing ovarian hyperstimulation. In contrast, the auricular acupressure group recorded reduced scores for somatization symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive indications, depression, and anxiety after the hyperstimulation process. Importantly, the auricular acupressure correlated with improved success in in vitro fertilization.
