Auricular Stimulation vs. Relaxation for Pre-exam Anxiety

Auricular Acupuncture vs. Progressive Muscle Relaxation in Treatment of Pre-exam Anxiety - Randomised Crossover Study in Medical Students

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03093571

Acronym

AAvsPMR

Enrollment

Registered

2017-03-28

Start date

2015-04-30

Completion date

2015-07-31

Last updated

2017-03-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anxiety

Brief summary

Title of the study: Auricular acupuncture (AA) vs. progressive muscle relaxation for pre-exam anxiety - a randomised crossover study Study period: 04 / 2015 - 07 / 2015 Principal Investigator: PD Dr. T. Usichenko Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, University Medicine of Greifswald Aim of the study: To investigate the anxiolytic effect of AA vs. progressive muscle relaxation and vs. no intervention in students, passing the oral exams in anatomy at the University of Greifswald Design: Prospective randomised crossover trial Interventions: 1. AA using indwelling fixed needles, retained 24 h in situ 2. Progressive muscle relaxation Number of volunteers: N = 30 Healthy medical students at the University of Greifswald Participants of the oral anatomy exams in spring/summer 2015 Without previous anxiolytic, sedative and analgesic medication No pregnancy or lactating Informed consent Outcome measures: Anxiety level Heart rate, blood pressure Salivary α-amylase

Interventions

DEVICEAuricular stimulation

Auricular stimulation with indwelling fixed needles

BEHAVIORALRelaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

19 Years to 35 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Medical students at the University of Greifswald 2. Going to take part in oral exams of human anatomy 3. Participants without previous anxiolytic medication 4. Ability to understand and perform PMR 5. Written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1. Recidivist alcoholics 2. Local auricular skin infection 3. Pregnant or lactating women 4. Participants with prosthetic or damaged cardiac valves, intracardiac and intravascular shunts, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and mitral valve prolaps (risk of bacterial endocarditis according to guidelines of AHA) 5. Participants who are unable to understand the consent form 6. History of psychiatric disease

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Intensity of anxiety	2 days	State-trait-anxiety-inventory

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Salivary alpha-amylase	1 day	Enzymatic activity of salivary alpha-amylase
heart rate	1 day	heart rate
blood pressure	1 day	blood pressure

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026