Acupuntura como recurso para o controle da ansiedade e apetite em trabalhadores obesos de um hospital universitário

Abstract

Obesity is considered a global pandemic and a health problem caused by several factors that lead to poor quality of life of obese individuals. Overweight is a feature often presented by health workers due to the nature of the work process there are exposed to, performing peculiar activities that may cause health problem such as anxiety and sleep disorders. It is difficult to establish which of these problems occur first, since one can cause or result form the other. The aim of this study was to verify the effect of acupuncture in controlling anxiety and appetite of obese health workers. Data was collected from July to October 2009, in a school hospital, where 37 people attended weekly appointments to receive eletroacupuncture and ear acupuncture for eight weeks. Data was tabulated and analyzed with Statistica® software v.8 and the results were interpreted, discussed and presented through illustrations and tables. Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale was used to assess anxiety levels, showing that before the treatment, 12 people had anxiety and after treatment only three of them kept these anxiety levels (p=0.0077). Considering that sleep is a factor with great influence over anxiety and obesity, the participants were also submitted to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Before acupuncture only five (13.5%) individuals presented good quality of sleep, whereas in the end of the treatment 14 (37.8%) people displayed this feature (p=0.0001). Seven Visual Analogue Scales were used to assess different aspects of appetite such as hunger, satiety, fullness, and desire to eat something sweet, salty, savoury or greasy. Results displayed changes in appetite regarding satiety, fullness, desire to eat something sweet and savoury during the treatment course. There was no reduction in participants' weight or body mass index although a significant reduction in waist hip ratio was verified (p=0.02). Considering that statistical significance was found in anxiety, sleep quality and appetite behavior of subjects before and after acupuncture, it can be concluded that this technique was efficient to improve the signs and symptoms presented by these health workers. These results suggest that acupuncture may be used as a therapeutic option to control and reduce anxiety, sleep disorders and appetite in obese people, contributing to the improvement of their quality of life. This was a pilot study with some limitations, such as small sample size and absence of control group. Supplementary studies should be conducted with a bigger sample, to collect more detailed information over satiety sensation.