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Auricular Acupressure Integrated With a Smartphone Application for Weight Reduction

NCT06744933 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 220

Last updated 2025-04-09

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether self-administered auricular acupressure integrated with a smartphone application works to reduce weight in patients with obesity accompanied with obesity-related comorbid illness. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Is there significant difference in the Body Mass Index (BMI) between the self-administered auricular acupressure integrated with a smartphone app (Version 2) group (experimental group) and the usual care group, in people with obesity accompanied with metabolic syndrome?
* Are there significant differences in other anthropometric parameters between the two groups? These parameters include waist circumference, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle percentage, and waist-to-hip ratio.
* Are there any significant differences in obesity-related parameters between the two groups? These parameters include blood lipid profile (triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)), blood glucose concentrations (fasting glucose and glycated haemoglobin/ HbA1c), and blood pressure.

Participants in the experimental group will:

* Be affixed with 6 to 8 hypoallergic Vaccariae Semen ear patches on one ear each time
* Visit the clinic twice a week to change a new set of ear patches on the opposite ear
* Will undergo this intervention for 8 weeks
* Install a smartphone application which will send pop-up notifications to remind them to press on the ear patches regularly every day
* Keep a record on the number of times pressing on the smartphone application

Conditions

  • Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome

Interventions

COMBINATION_PRODUCT

Self-administered auricular acupressure integrated with a smartphone application

6 to 8 Vaccariae Semen ear patches will be affixed on one ear of the patient. The patient will be required to press on the ear patches 3 times a day, and 30 minutes before a meal. Every 3 to 4 days, the patient will visit the clinic to change a new set of ear patches on the same auricular acupoints of the opposite ear alternately. The whole course of intervention will be 8 weeks. The smartphone app will send scheduled pop-up notifications to remind patients to press on the ear patches. The patient will be required to enter the number of times pressing and of defaecation every day on the smartphone application. The smartphone application will send more notifications to the patient if he/ she has a low compliance. When the participants record the number of times pressing on the auricular acupoints, positive reinforcement messages will pop-up, such as "Excellent job!" for those with good compliance while "You are almost there! Keep going!" for those with poor compliance.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • Tung Wah College

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-04-09
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

Countries

  • Hong Kong

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06744933 on ClinicalTrials.gov