The assessment of acupressure effectiveness and safety in the comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation of patients with peptic ulcers

Abstract

Aim: The paper evaluates effectiveness and safety of acupressure (AP) in the comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation of patients with uncomplicated peptic ulcer disease (PUD). Materials and Methods: The study retrospectively assessed the effectiveness of treating 24 PUD patients, who received AP session following the author’s protocol based on Houston F.M. recommendations. The statistical analysis of the results employed the algorithm for qualitative data analysis applying the MedCalc 2023 software package. We analyzed the frequency of clinical syndrome manifestations before and after treatment, calculating the interval estimate of this measure (95% confidence interval (CI)). The study formulated null and alternative statistical hypotheses applying the McNemar test to check the null hypothesis for paired samples. When evaluating the risk of AP side effects, we determined 95% CI for proportion, considering binomial distribution of the feature (“presence-absence of complications”). Results: After completing the treatment course and observing the absence of endoscopic signs of peptic gastropathy, we detected statistically significant changes in the frequency of all clinical syndrome manifestations (p-value < 0.0001, based on the McNemar test). AP rapidly and effectively alleviated the main clinical manifestations in patients with PUD. The tolerability of acupressure was good, without side effects. The study determined with 95% probability, that the risk of adverse effects did not exceed 15%. Conclusions: AP is easy to use, non-invasive adjunctive therapy and alternative medical practice during the rehabilitation stage for PUD patients. It proves to be effective, safe, and inexpensive non-pharmacological method of treatment and rehabilitation, aligning with the alternative statistical hypothesis.