The effect of hand H7 acupressure on the non-reactive pattern of fetal non stress test: A randomized clinical trial

Non-stress test is the most widely used primary method for assessing fetal health. The mother's mental state affects the fetal heart rate pattern. As maternal anxiety increases, fetal movements and beat to beat variability decrease. Acupressure releases enkephalins such as serotonin and endorphins and reduces maternal stress and anxiety levels. Therefore, this study was performed aimed to determine the effect of H7 point acupressure on fetal heart rate pattern in stress-free test.

This randomized clinical trial study was performed in 2020-2021 on 60 nulliparous mothers with gestational age of 37-42 weeks in Birjand Valiasr Hospital. The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and pseudoacupressure. In the intervention group, point H7 acupressure was touched in each hand for 2.5 minutes and in the control group, a false point in the hand was touched. Non-stress test was performed for 20 minutes before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16) and Chi-square, Independent t-test, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

After the intervention, the variables of number of non-stress test cases, number of fetal heart rate increase, number of fetal movements, and beat to beat variability were significantly different in the intervention group compared to the control group and also compared to before the intervention (p<0.001). But the mean variable of fetal heart rate in the two groups after the intervention was not significantly different than before the intervention (P = 0.732).

Acupressure can improve fetal non-stress test and its parameters.