Objective:

2

To identify the effectiveness of auricular acupressure (AA) in patients with acute postoperative pain after surgery by systematic review.

Methods:

2

A search of randomized controlled trials was conducted in 5 English medical electronic databases and 4 Chinese databases. Two reviewers independently retrieved related studies

assessed the methodological quality

and extracted data with a standardized data form. Meta-analyses were performed using all time-points meta-analysis.

Results:

2

A total of 26 studies with 1

682 participants were included. Results showed that compared with conventional therapy

AA significantly improved the total effective rate [risk ratio=1.25

95% confidence interval (CI)

1.13 to 1.37

P

<

0.0001; heterogeneity:

P

<

0.0001

I

2

=85%]. In the subgroup analysis

the results changed in different follow-up time and surgery categories. The pain relief in the AA group might be the most significant at 72 h after surgery (mean difference=–0.85

95% CI

–1.20 to –0.50

P

<

0.0001) and in abdominal surgery (mean difference=–1.15

95% CI

–1.41 to –0.90

P

<

0.0001). Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the results of this meta-analysis were stable. No serious adverse effects were recorded.

Conclusions:

2

It was recommended to provide AA to patients with acute postoperative pain. However

a more accurate estimate of the effect requires further rigorously designed large-scale and high-quality RCTs for improving acute postoperative pain after surgery.