VITAL SIGNS
Therapies: First, Tranquilize the Parents
By ERIC NAGOURNEY

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/health/14ACUP.html

Published: October 14, 2003


octors sometimes joke that when children have surgery, their parents
may need sedatives, too.

"Usually, high-anxiety parents have high-anxiety kids," said Dr. Shu-
Ming Wang, an anesthesiologist at the Yale School of Medicine.

But in a new study, Dr. Wang and her colleagues report on another
approach, acupuncture. Simple devices resembling thumbtacks attached
to the ear significantly reduce parents' anxiety, they reported.

The study will be presented this week at a meeting of the American
Society of Anesthesiologists in San Francisco.

The needles, which are pressed on and held in place with tape, are
not painful, Dr. Wang said. The mechanism that makes them soothing
is not well understood, she said, though the results are clear.

The study, which examined mothers whose children were having
surgery, divided the mothers into two groups. One group was given
acupuncture in areas of the ear found in the past to help ease
anxiety. The other group was given acupuncture in other areas.

The mothers in the first group reported being anxious less often
than those in the second group. Their children also appeared less
anxious, the researchers said.

The mothers in the first group were also much more likely to want
the needles left in place after the study was over, the researchers
said, providing more evidence of their effectiveness.