Abstract Rationale Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is characterized by daily dyspnea and prevalent Dyspnea-related Anxiety (DrA). Treatment options to alleviate symptoms such as dyspnea and DrA and improve quality of life are limited. Acupuncture and acupressure each show promise in ameliorating dyspnea and DrA in the context of pulmonary diseases but have not been tested in ILD. Our central hypothesis is that both acupuncture and self-acupressure will decrease dyspnea, breathing distress and DrA. Methods Sixteen patients diagnosed with ILD, were asked to choose acupuncture (AP) therapy (n = 6) or self-acupressure (SAp) (n = 10) in addition to their usual care. The needle or pressure points were used in both AP and SAp over an eight-week period, with AP conducted weekly and SAp daily. The UC San Diego Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (UCSDSOBQ) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used as pre-post measures. Additionally, weekly measures of breathing intensity (BI) and unpleasantness (BU) were reported by subjects. Basic descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon sign rank test for total group differences from baseline, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for group differences with baseline measure as covariant were used for analysis. Where appropriate Quade’s nonparametric ANCOVA was used. Results Most subjects were married (81%) with at least 16 years of education (81%) and not currently working (93.8 %). Biologic sex differed between groups with 67% male in the AP and SAp group 40% but this was not statistically significant by Chi Square analysis. The total group pre-post difference was not significant for UCSDSOBQ, BI, or BU. BAI showed a significant (Z=-2.84, p.05) decrease from a mean of 20.9 (sd 16.4) to 17.3 (sd 14.4). This difference did not hold (F = 0.08, p=.79) when pre values were controlled for, as BAI adjusted means were similar (AC m = 17.64, SAp m = 17.02). The UCSDSOBQ ANCOVA was significant (F = 4.55, p = 0.053) by group with adjusted mean for AC 27.95 and SAp of 39.43. Quade’s ANCOVA found statistical (F = 4.22, p = 0.038) differences by group with adjusted means (AC = 0.55, SAp=3.43) and BU (f = 5.33, p = 0.031) with adjusted means of AC = 0.76 and SAp =2.62. Discussion This small pilot study found promising outcomes for dyspnea, breathing intensity and unpleasantness among patients with ILD who received eight weekly sessions of acupuncture. Additional testing with a larger sample size is warranted to demonstrate effectiveness. This abstract is funded by: none
Meek et al. (2026) studied this question.