Auricular magnetic bead acupressure improves postpartum sleep quality and fatigue, and reduces epidural-related maternal fever in primiparas: a randomized controlled trial

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Source: Frontiers Medicine

Original: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2026.1788646...

Published: 2026-03-13T00:00:00Z

A randomized controlled trial in 144 primiparous women with epidural analgesia tested auricular magnetic bead acupressure (AMBA) combined with patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) versus PCEA alone. 122 mothers completed the study. The AMBA group had a significantly lower sleep quality score according to the Athens Insomnia Scale (4.72 ± 2.77 vs. 6.03 ± 3.13, p=0.0064) and a lower fatigue score according to the Postpartum Fatigue Scale (16.13 ± 2.91 vs. 20.40 ± 0.89, p<0.05) on the 5th day after delivery. She also showed higher levels of melatonin and serotonin (5-HT), lower levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β, lower incidence of maternal epidural fever (8.19% vs. 24.59%, p=0.0265), shorter second stage of labor, lower consumption of analgesics and lower effective dose of oxytocin (all p<0.05). AMBA improves postpartum sleep and reduces fatigue in primiparous women with epidural analgesia and reduces maternal epidural fever. The mechanism involves modulation of the neuroendocrine and immune systems; it is a safe, non-invasive and non-pharmacological method.