Hassan Ghorbani - MSN, Student Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Majid Najafi Kalyani - Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Medical surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Azizallah Dehghan - Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
Farzaneh Kazemi Ara - MSN, Department of Nursing, Hazrat Vali-E-Asr Noorabad Mamasani Hospital, Noorabad Mamasani, Iran

Background: Acupressure as one of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become very popular in the management of various diseases such as diabetes. Although the increasing use of acupuncture, there are limited systematic reviews and meta-analyses in this field.Aim: The present study was performed with aim to investigate the effectiveness of acupressure on the blood sugar parameters of patients with type ۲ diabetes.Method: In this rapid systematic review and meta-analysis, the studies published globally between ۲۰۱۰ and ۲۰۲۲ were searched in the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct databases with the keywords of acupressure, diabetes, complementary medicine, blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin as separately and in combination. To analyze data, STATA software version ۱۱ was used to analyze data, and the random effect model method was applied for meta-analysis of the studies.Results: Among the ۴۱۱ articles found in the initial search, finally ۸ articles were selected for this study. The results of the meta-analysis of studies showed that acupressure had a positive effect on blood sugar (۹۵% CI = ۰.۸۱۶-۱.۵۵۳, P < ۰.۰۰۱, OR = ۱.۱۸) and fasting blood sugar (۹۵% CI = ۰.۲۶۰ - ۰.۸۵۷, P˂۰.۰۰۱, OR = ۰.۵۵۹) in diabetic patients, while it had no effect on the level of glycosylated hemoglobin (۹۵% CI = -۰.۱۳۹ - ۰.۳۸۹, P = ۰.۳۵۵, OR = ۰.۵۵۹).Implications for Practice: This study showed the positive effect of acupressure in reducing blood sugar and fasting blood sugar in patients with diabetes, however more studies are required to confirm the effect of acupressure on glycosylated hemoglobin.

Acupressure, Blood sugar, Diabetes, Glycosylated hemoglobin, Meta-analysis, Systematic review