The effect of auricular acupressure on quality of life in postmenopausal women: a randomized sham-controlled clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: With the decline in the average age of menopause, increased life expectancy and rising longevity among women, a significant number face menopausal challenges including physical and psychological symptoms that adversely affect their quality of life (QoL). Given the growing preference for complementary therapies over menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and promising evidence on auricular acupressure, this study aimed to investigate its effect on QoL in postmenopausal women. METHOD: = 0.05). RESULTS: -values, auricular acupressure explained 63.4% of total QoL variance, and 61.6% (vasomotor), 39.9% (psychosocial), 66.2% (physical), and 42.4% (sexual) for the subscales. CONCLUSION: Auricular acupressure significantly improved overall QoL and all specific domains (physical, psychosocial, vasomotor, sexual) in postmenopausal women. Healthcare providers may consider this non-pharmacological therapy particularly for MHT-ineligible patients to alleviate menopausal symptoms and enhance QoL. Some limitations such as potential social desirability bias from self-reported measures, the lack of objective biomarkers due to budget limits and unevaluated confounding factors related to living conditions highlight the need for future research with multimodal assessments.