Auricular Acupressure as a Treatment for Anxiety Before Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy in the Elderly

Purpose: Auricular acupuncture at the relaxation point has been shown to be effective treatment for anxiety. We hypothesized that auricular acupressure may decrease anxiety in elderly individuals who are transported by ambulance before receiving ESWL®.Materials and Methods: We enrolled 100 patients with renal calculi who were transported to the local hospital by special ambulance, accompanied by 2 paramedics. Paramedic 1 performed data collection, while paramedic 2 performed auricular acupressure in patients randomly assigned to a relaxation group and a sham treated group. Anxiety was measured using a visual analog scale score on a scale of 0 to 100 mm.Results: Each group consisted of 50 patients with similar demographic characteristics. The relaxation group had significantly decreased anxiety scores upon arrival at the hospital and lower anticipation of pain scores (mean ± SD 57.6 ± 21.8 to 15.4 ± 9.8 and 35.7 ± 29.7 to 9.5 ± 4.1 mm VAS) than the sham treated group (55.5 ± 25.9 to 49.8 ± 28.9 and 37.7 ± ...