An interventional study of acupressure and Education in Lung Cancer (Diagnosis), Acupressure and Coughing, sponsored by The University of Hong Kong. Recruiting at 2 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-11.
Sponsored by The University of Hong Kong · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to examine the effect of an acupressure intervention in alleviating cough and reducing co-occurring symptoms (dyspnea, cough, and fatigue) in patients with lung cancer.
The hypotheses are:
Participants will:
Receive acupressure for 8 weeks or receive an education booklet; Keep a diary of their acupressure practice and symptoms; Be assessed at baseline (T0), early intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2), and 8 weeks after the intervention period (T3).
Lung cancer survivors often exhibit multiple symptoms, among which cough and its co-occurring symptoms have been identified as a group of prevalent and persistent symptoms that substantially impact their quality of life and overall survival. Research has identified cough as the sentinel symptom of the respiratory symptom cluster in lung cancer patients, underscoring the critical need for effective management strategies. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effect of a safe and self-administerable acupressure intervention on alleviating cough, reducing the dyspnea-cough-fatigue symptom cluster, and improving symptom burden, functional capacity, and quality of life in this patient population.
5,422 studies on the registry are indexed under Lung Neoplasms; 1,346 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 80 is above the median of 60 across 3,656 interventional studies indexed under Lung Neoplasms.
Browse Lung Neoplasms studies →The University of Hong Kong is the lead sponsor of 1,292 studies on the registry; 348 are open to participants now.
Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Life expectancy
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will receive an 8-week acupressure intervention. After completing two hospital training sessions, the participants will perform acupressure every day for eight consecutive weeks in their daily activities following an evidence-based acupressure protocol, which will be developed based on the Chinese meridian theory, expert consensus and a comprehensive literature review of previous evidence on LC cough management. In the first week, two training sessions will be conducted to ensure the competency of the participants in performing acupressure. Afterwards, participants will be instructed to press each of the 15 designated acupoints until they experience sensations of soreness, numbness or distension, for 1 minute per time, at least two prescribed times daily (once between 9-11 am and once between 5-7 pm), and additionally during cough episodes, wherever they feel appropriate.
Behavioral: acupressure
Participants will receive an educational booklet that includes information on the disease and treatments of LC, causes and consequences of cough, and advice on cough prevention and management.
Other: Education
Participants will perform acupressure for 8 weeks and keep practice records in a diary log. Trainers will follow up with the participants twice weekly via phone or face-to-face to assess and reinforce their practice and address acupressure-related questions.
Participants will receive an educational booklet in the first week after the baseline assessment and complete evaluations concurrently with the experimental group. Upon study completion, they will be offered a place on a waitlist for the same acupressure intervention provided to the experimental group.
Cough
The cough will be evaluated using the Cough Evaluation Test (CET). The 5-item instrument assesses cough under physical, psychological and social domains, with each item graded on a five-point scale, with a higher total score indicating a greater level of symptom and an MCID of 2 points.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Cough-related quality of life
The Mandarin Chinese version of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ-MC) will be used to assess cough-related quality of life. The widely adopted questionnaire has established satisfactory internal consistency (with Cronbach's α between 0.74 and 0.90) and test-retest reliability (with intraclass correlation coefficients between 0.89 and 0.95). The 19-item LCQ-MC has an MCID of 3.0 points. A lower total score indicates a greater level of symptom severity and poorer cough-related quality of life.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Dyspnea-cough-fatigue symptom cluster
The dyspnea-cough-fatigue symptom cluster will be assessed in terms of the occurrence and severity. The presence of the symptom cluster is defined as having all three symptoms. Severity of the dyspnea-cough-fatigue symptom cluster will be quantified using the average score of all three items (dyspnea, cough, and fatigue) from the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Lung Cancer (MDASI-LC).
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Dyspnea
Dyspnea will be measured using Dyspnea-12 (D-12). The 12-item instrument consists of two subscales (physical and affective), with each item graded on a 4-point scale from 0 (no dyspnea) to 3 (severe dyspnea).
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Fatigue
The 9-item Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) will be used to measure fatigue levels. The instrument has two dimensions - severity and interference, with a higher total score indicating a greater symptom burden.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Symptom burden
The symptom burden of the participants will be measured using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Lung Cancer (MDASI-LC), which consists of 16 symptom items and 6 interference items.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Functional capacity
Functional capacity will be assessed using the 6-minute Walking Test (6MWT), a valid and widely used test among patients with respiratory diseases.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Health-related quality of life
Health-related quality of life will be measured with the 36-item Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) under five dimensions: physical, emotional, social, functional well-being, and LC-specific symptoms.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (T0, baseline); Early intervention (T1, 1 week after T0); Post-intervention (T2, 8 weeks after T0); Follow-up (T3, 16 weeks after T0)
Plan to share: No — We are not to share IPD. All IPD will be managed confidentially, using only a unique ID for identification. Access to data is limited to the research team during the study. The principal investigator is responsible for data security.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.