A Study on Effects of Acupressure Among the Frail Elderly in Homes for the Aged and Care and Attention Homes for the Elderly
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 已完成
- 入组人数
- 65
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Change of quality of life
研究概览
简要总结
Acupressure has been used for thousands of years in China. Through applying pressure on the specific acupoints based on Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, acupressure could promote relaxation and wellness, balance yin-yang and treat diseases.
The PI has been using acupressure to treat various diseases in the clinics of the School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. Acupressure has demonstrated significant efficacy in treating geriatric diseases, obstetric diseases, pediatric diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and various painful symptoms. When applying acupressure on the Head- Neck - Shoulder area, it could also help to improve insomnia, reduce pain, and regulate the mood of the patients.
"Frailty" is a geriatric syndrome of growing importance in the medical field. Prevalence of frailty increases with age. As our life expectancy increase, there will be more elderly suffered from frailty in the later stage of their life. Although there is still a lack of universally accepted clinical definition for frailty, the syndrome is now commonly understood as decreased reserves in multiple systems, and lowered resilience to negative stress. Frailty could be initiated by single or multiple conditions including malnutrition, chronic diseases, lack of exercise, stress and physiological or social changes caused by aging. Its manifestation includes sarcopenia, anorexia, energy reduction, dysfunctional neuroendocrine system and a pro-inflammatory state. Frailty could affect the emotional state of the elderly, meanwhile, positive affect is protective against the functional and physical decline associated with frailty. There is limited treatment or medication for frailty. The investigators believe that acupressure could be a possible non invasive means to improve the general health conditions, including the emotional conditions of the frail elderly. In the past 2 years, the school of Chinese Medicine has been promoting acupressure as a health maintenance technique to the elderly, mostly frail elderly living in the community dwelling through seminars. It is in investigator's interest to run a prospective research to further understand the efficacy of acupressure in a wider range of frail elderly. The investigators would like to use a well-designed pragmatic randomized controlled trial (PRCT) to investigate if acupressure could help the frail elderly to improve their general quality of life
详细描述
The research is a collaborative project by The University of Hong Kong and Yan Chai Hospital, with the aim of investigating the potential benefits of applying acupressure regularly on frail elderly. The study is designed as a prospective randomized control trial with the primary objective to investigate if acupressure could help the elderlies to improve their general quality of life.
"Frailty" is a geriatric syndrome of growing importance in the medical field. Although there is still a lack of universally accepted clinical definition for frailty, the syndrome is now commonly understood as decreased reserves in multiple systems, and lowered resilience to negative stress. Frailty could affect the emotional state of the elderlies; meanwhile, positive affect is protective against the functional and physical decline associated with frailty. Since there is limited treatment or medication for frailty. The investigators would like to investigate if acupressure could be a possible non-invasive means to improve the general health conditions, including the psycho-social well being of the frail elderly.
The aim of this research is to study potential beneficial effects of acupressure on a group of frail elderly living in the Homes for the Aged and Care and Attention Homes for the Elderly.
In this study, the investigators will use Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) to assess the frailty level of the elderly.
I. Trial Design:
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Treatment
- 盲法
- Single (Outcomes Assessor)
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 65 Years 至 —（Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 否
入选标准
- •a. Age: 65 years and older;
- •b. Gender: male or female;
- •c. Currently is a client served by the Residential Care services of YCHSS;
- •d. Demonstrate frailty: score 5 or more in the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI);
- •e. Physically fit to sit on a normal chair for 15-20 mins for acupressure treatment;
- •f. Cognitively competent to understand the instruction from the practitioner and participate actively in the exercise program offered by the Residential Care of YCHSS);
- •g. Cognitively competent to sign the consent form: score 6 or more in Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT, Hong Kong Version);
- •h. Signed the Patient/Subject Consent Form for this study.
排除标准
- •a. Who is currently receiving acupressure or acupuncture as a regular therapy;
- •b. Who is decision impaired and unfit to sign the consent form;
- •c. Who is suffering from one of the related contraindications for acupressure (including open sores; undiagnosed rashes; high fever; hypertensive emergence; sore and enlarged lymph nodes; the site of an injury, surgery or injection; burn wounds; skin ulcers and eczema);
- •d. Who is unable to comply to the set treatment schedule (20% non compliance is allowed).
结局指标
主要结局
Change of quality of life
时间窗: Baseline, 12 weeks, 6th months
questionnaire: Short Form 12 questions Health Survey version 2 (SF-12,v2), Version for Hong Kong Chinese will be used to measure the quality of life of the elderly pre-treatment and post treatment.
次要结局
- change of sleeping quality(Baseline, 12 weeks, 6th months)
- change of heart rate(Baseline, 12 weeks, 6th months)
- change of blood pressure(Baseline, 12 weeks, 6th months)