A comparison of the effect of pressure on the KID21 (Youmen) and P6 (Neiguan) points on the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy

Abstract Background Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is the most common problem for women in early pregnancy. The present study was conducted to compare the effect of pressure on KID21 and P6 on the severity of NVP. Methods This single-blind clinical trial was conducted on pregnant women in their first trimester with NVP, referring to the clinic of Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital of Babol, Iran, in 2017. Eighty-two participants were randomly divided into KID21 and P6 pressure groups. The researcher applied pressure on these two points 20 min each day for four consecutive days. The severity of nausea and vomiting was then assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) by the patient and counting its frequency in 24 h, respectively. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22 by repeated measures ANOVA and paired sample T-Test. Results The severity of NVP in the 82 participating pregnant women decreased in both groups (p<0.001), and there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the severity of NVP (p=0.68), although the reduction in nausea was greater in the P6 group than KID21 group, and the reduction in vomiting was greater in the KID21 group than the P6 group. Effect size for vomiting and nausea was 0.28 and 0.16, respectively. No side-effects were observed in the two groups during these four days. Conclusions Pressure on P6 and KID21 points has no advantage over each other in the treatment of NVP, but acupressure is an effective, complication-free, inexpensive and accessible treatment for this complication.