Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Adaptive Auricular Point Acupressure for Sleep Disturbance in Women with Breast Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Table 2

Demographic characteristics and disease-related data between groups.


Variables	Groups
Variables	Control group (n = 34)	APA group (n = 34)	t/X²/Z	p

Age, mean (SD)	54.35 (12.84)	52.59 (10.50)	0.610^a	0.544
BMI^#, mean (SD) kg/m²	23.38 (2.74)	23.79 (2.79)	−0.619^a	0.538

Education level, n (%)			0.287^b	0.866
Middle school or below	15 (44.12%)	14 (41.18%)
High school	9 (26.47%)	11 (32.35%)
College or above	10 (29.41%)	9 (26.47%)

Employment status, n (%)			0.061^b	0.804
Employment	13 (38.24%)	14 (41.18%)
Unemployment	21 (61.76%)	20 (58.82%)

Marital status, n (%)			0.159^b	0.690
Married	31 (91.18%)	30 (88.24%)
Single/divorced/widow	3 (8.82%)	4 (11.76%)

Religion, n (%)			0.219^b	0.896
None or other	26 (76.47%)	27 (79.41%)
Christian	3 (8.82%)	2 (5.88%)
Buddhist	5 (14.71%)	5 (14.71%)

Insomnia before BC, n (%)			0.159^b	0.690
No	31 (91.18%)	30 (88.24%)
Yes	3 (8.82%)	4 (11.76%)

Cancer stage, n (%)			−0.148^b	0.882
I	10 (29.41%)	8 (23.53%)
II	16 (47.06%)	20 (58.82%)
III	7 (20.59%)	3 (8.82%)
IV	1 (2.94%)	3 (8.82%)

Chemotherapy cycles received, mean (SD)	3.47 (1.62)	3.88 (1.82)	−1.017^c	0.309
HADS_anxiety, mean (SD)	4.29 (3.74)	4.59 (3.14)	−0.685^c	0.494
HADS_depression, mean (SD)	4.76 (2.90)	4.53 (2.67)	−0.179^c	0.858

Abbreviation: APA, auricular point acupressure; BC, breast cancer; BMI, body mass index; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. ^aIndependent t-test was used. ^bChi-square test was used. ^cMann–Whitney U test was used. The Chi-square test was used to examine the differences of cancer stage between two groups.