Analysis of Multimodal Psychosomatic Comorbidity Burden in Breast Cancer and Benefit Evaluation of Acupuncture Collaborative Management Regimen

August 12, 2026 updated by: Li Li, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial on Acupuncture Intervention to Alleviate Multifaceted Psychosomatic Comorbidities Among Breast Cancer Patients Based on Shared Decision-Making Model

This study adopts a multicenter, pragmatic, umbrella randomized controlled trial design integrated with the shared decision-making (SDM) model. Patients are stratified into four subgroups based on their core psychosomatic symptom phenotypes (single symptom vs. multiple comorbid symptoms). Participants are randomly assigned to the intervention group or control group at a 2:1 allocation ratio. For the intervention group, personalized interventions (including manual acupuncture, auricular point pressing, and combined manual acupuncture plus auricular point pressing) are selected via shared decision-making between clinicians and patients, while the control group receives routine nursing care. The study evaluates the improvement efficacy of single symptoms and the synergistic relief effect of multiple co-occurring symptoms across all psychosomatic phenotype subgroups under the shared decision-making framework. This design addresses the limitation of conventional randomized controlled trials that only focus on individual symptoms, and better fits real-world clinical scenarios characterized by multimorbid coexistence.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

216

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female patients aged 18 to 70 years old;
  • Patients with pathologically or cytologically confirmed breast cancer;
  • Meeting at least one diagnostic criterion for psychosomatic symptoms:Anxiety or depressive state: subscale score of anxiety or depression on the HADS ≥ 8;Sleep disturbance: total score of the PSQI ≥ 8;Cancer-related fatigue: total score of the BFI ≥ 4;
  • Expected survival time ≥ 1 year;
  • Clear consciousness, basic communication ability, and capacity to complete scale assessments cooperatively;
  • Voluntary written informed consent signed by the patient or legal representative.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with severe mental disorders (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) or lacking civil capacity;
  • Ineligibility for auricular point pressing intervention: local auricular skin breakage, infection, or allergic constitution (allergy to vaccaria seeds or adhesive plasters);
  • Patients receiving other acupuncture or acupoint pressing interventions, or those unable to discontinue such treatments during the trial period;
  • Patients unsuitable for manual acupuncture, including those with bleeding tendency (e.g., coagulation disorders, purpura) or local skin lesions at acupoint sites;
  • Complicated with severe heart, liver, renal or other organ failure, or cachexia;
  • Pregnant or lactating women.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Acupuncture group
Acupuncture、Auricular point pressing
Other: Acupuncture
In the intervention group, personalized interventions (manual acupuncture, auricular point pressing, and combined manual acupuncture plus auricular point pressing) were selected through shared decision-making between physicians and patients.
Other Names:
  • Auricular point pressing
No Intervention: routine nursing control group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast, FACT-B
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Instruments for assessing Quality of Life (QoL) among breast cancer patients；Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B Version 4.0) Uniform response options: 0 = Not at all, 1 = A little bit, 2 = Somewhat, 3 = Quite a bit, 4 = Very much Unified scoring rule for all subscales and total scores: Higher scores indicate better quality of life among breast cancer patients; lower scores reflect more severe physical, emotional, social and breast-specific distress.
8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hospital anxiety and depression scale,HADS
Time Frame: 8 weeks

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Full Scoring Standard Specifications Subscale 1: Anxiety subscale (HADS-A) Number of items: 7 Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 21 Interpretation: Higher scores mean more severe anxiety symptoms. Subscale 2: Depression subscale (HADS-D) Number of items: 7 Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 21 Interpretation: Higher scores mean more severe depressive symptoms. HADS total score Composition: HADS-A score + HADS-D score Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 42 Interpretation: Higher total scores indicate more severe combined anxiety and depression symptoms.

Supplementary Response Option Rule (Standard HADS 4-point Likert) All items adopt 4-point scoring from 0 to 3; higher single item scores stand for worse emotional conditions.
8 weeks
Pittsburgh sleep quality index，PSQI
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) Full Scoring Standard Description PSQI component subscores (7 sleep dimensions) Each component score range: 0-3 PSQI global total score Full name: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Global Score Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 21 Interpretation: Higher global scores represent worse overall sleep quality; lower scores indicate better sleep quality.
8 weeks
Brief Fatigue Inventory，BFI
Time Frame: 8 weeks

Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) Full Scoring Standard Description Single item scoring range for each fatigue item: 0-10 BFI Global Fatigue Severity Score Full name: Brief Fatigue Inventory Global Fatigue Severity Score Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 10 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate more severe fatigue; lower scores represent milder fatigue status.

Supplement The total global score is the average of all 9 items of the BFI. Each item uses a 0-10 numerical rating scale, where 0 = no fatigue at all and 10 = worst fatigue imaginable.
8 weeks
Brief Pain Inventory，BPI
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Full Scoring Standard Description Single item scoring range: Each pain-related item is scored on a 0-10 numeric rating scale (0 = no pain, 10 = worst pain imaginable) BPI Pain Severity Score Full name: Brief Pain Inventory Pain Severity Score Composition: Average score of 4 pain severity items (worst pain, least pain, average pain, pain right now) Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 10 Interpretation: Higher scores mean greater pain severity BPI Pain Interference Score Full name: Brief Pain Inventory Pain Interference Score Composition: Average score of 7 pain interference items (interference with general activity, mood, walking ability, normal work, relations with others, sleep, enjoyment of life) Minimum score: 0 Maximum score: 10 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate more severe interference of pain on daily life
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Collaborators

Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital
Tianjin Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 31, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 3, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 12, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 12, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026006

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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