effect of acupressure on anxiety in hemodialysis patients: a systematic review

This systematic review was conducted to investigate the impact of acupressure on anxiety levels among patients undergoing hemodialysis. international electronic databases, including scopus, pubmed, and web of science, were meticulously searched from the inception of the databases to january 8, 2024, employing keywords derived from medical subject headings such as &acupressure&, &anxiety&, and &hemodialysis&. additionally, iranian databases such as iranmedex were scrutinized. the quality of randomized controlled trials was assessed using the joanna briggs institute’s (jbi) critical assessment checklist. four studies, encompassing 496 participants, were included in the analysis. among the participants, 51.00% were female, with 67.34% allocated to the intervention group. the mean age of the participants was 40.48 (sd=8.75) years. the average study duration and follow-up period were approximately 28 and 4 weeks, respectively. the average intervention duration was 8.33 minutes. the findings underscored the efficacy of acupressure administered by healthcare professionals, such as nurses, in mitigating anxiety levels. this emphasizes the recommendation of healthcare managers and policymakers to create an environment conducive to the utilization of acupressure by healthcare professionals within hospital settings. such measures can contribute to the alleviation of anxiety among patients undergoing hemodialysis.