Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Explore, cilt.21, sa.4, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: This study aimed to assess the effect of acupressure application to hemodialysis patients on fatigue and to provide guidance to future studies. Methods: Between 2004 and May 2022, the PubMed, EBSCO (Medline, CINAHL), EMBASE (OVID) Web of Science, Türkiye Clinics (Turkey citation index), and TR Index were searched considering the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist. It included randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. It also covered meta-analysis-related studies in Turkish and English and evaluated them based on the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. The study used ('hemodialysis' OR 'dialysis' OR 'renal dialysis') AND ('fatigue' OR 'tiredness' OR 'weariness' OR 'exhaustion') AND ('acupressure') as the keywords and utilized RewMan5 and CMA programs for analysis. Heterogeneity was expressed through I2 and Q statistics. Random effect model was used, and Kendall's Tau were used for publication bias. Results: The meta-analysis that covered five (5) research articles published between 2004 and 2022 consisted of 475 study samples (intervention: control: placebo). Two independent researchers evaluated the full texts of these articles for quality purposes. Considering the hemodialysis patients, there was no significant difference between their average scores in studies that utilized the fatigue VAS scale (Z = 1.28; 95 % CI = –1.69, 0.36; p = 0.20), whereas there was a positive change in average PFS scores of the acupressure applied group in studies that performed the Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) (Z = 3.58; 95 % CI = –1.15, –0.34; p = 0.0003). Conclusion: The systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that the acupressure applied to hemodialysis patients revealed an effective outcome on fatigue.