Effects of Acupressure on Sleep Quality After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Sleep disturbances are common following coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Nowadays, nonmedical therapies are considered along with medical therapies for sleep disturbances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acupressure on sleep quality in patients after CABG.
This randomized controlled trial assigned 60 patients admitted to the intensive care unit after CABG to 2 groups. Each group comprised 30 patients, with the experimental group receiving acupressure on 5 different solar points for 5 to 15 minutes during 2 consecutive postoperative days and the control group receiving only sedative drugs on request. Sleep quality was measured the day before and after CABG using the St Mary’s Hospital Sleep Questionnaire (SMHSQ) in both groups. An SMHSQ score 9 is normal and 36 is the worst sleep quality.
According to the obtained data, before the intervention, the median (interquartile range) score for sleep quality was 15 (13–17) in the experimental group and 14 (13–14) in the control group; therefore, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (P = 0.689). However, following acupressure, the scores changed significantly: the SMHSQ score rose to 14 (13–14) in the experimental group, while it remained at 23 (23–25) in the control group—suggesting a reasonable difference in sleep quality between the 2 groups after CABG (P = 0.001). Also, the average difference in the control group’s score ( 9 points) before and after the intervention period was more than that of the acupressure group (-1 point).
Our findings showed that acupressure improved sleep quality in patients in the intensive care unit after CABG surgery. (Iranian Heart Journal 2017; 18(3):28-34)