Prior to Conception: The Role of an Acupuncture Protocol in Improving Women’s Reproductive Functioning Assessed by a Pilot Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial
Table 3
Primary study endpoints by treatment group.
Acupuncture intervention
Lifestyle only intervention
value
Adjusted analysis
RR/CI (CI 95%)
Increase in fertility awareness (%)
19 (86.4)
8 (40)
0.002
0.011
2.38 (1.25, 4.50)
Regularity of cycle (%)
At entry (%)
20 (71.4)
20 (71.4)
M1
16 (61.5)
12 (70.6)
0.543
0.823
0.87 (0.57, 1.34)
M2
12 (60)
5 (45.5)
0.436
0.262
1.32 (0.63, 2.77)
M3
5 (71.4)
4 (50)
0.398
0.252
1.43 (0.65, 3.30)
Menstrual details (mean/SD)
Length of period
M entry
4.86 (2.3)
4.85 (1.5)
0.984
M1
5.39 (2.5)
5.08 (1.1)
0.671
0.383
0.31 (−1.18, 1.8)
M2
5.11 (2.0)
4.33 (1.4)
0.255
0.631
0.78 (−0.77, 2.33)
M3
5.11 (1.3)
4.67 (1.3)
0.478
0.452
0.44 (−0.85, 1.73)
M exit
4.52 (2.2)
4.72 (2.2)
0.783
0.764
−0.2 (−1.65, 1.25)
Length of cycle
M entry
34.64 (18.3)
35.43 (18.4)
0.873
M1
32.52 (13.9)
31.00 (6.2)
0.713
0.360
1.52 (−6.8, 9.84)
M2
29.12 (4.0)
29.25 (8.9)
0.957
0.802
−0.13 (−5.15, 4.89)
M3
29.43 (2.6)
26.78 (3.1)
0.091
0.996
2.65 (−0.48, 5.78)
M exit
29.05 (11.9)
30.65 (6.4)
0.624
0.285
−1.6 (−8.15, 4.95)
Nature of menstrual flow (%)
Heavy
Chi-square M entry 0.716 M1 0.077 M2 0.009 M3 0.819
M entry
11 (39.3)
12 (42.9)
0.92 (0.49, 1.72)
M1
11 (44)
2 (12.5)
3.52 (0.89, 13.85)
M2
11 (55)
1 (11.1)
4.95 (0.75, 32.76)
M3
2 (28.6)
2 (28.6)
1 (0.19, 5.25)
Moderate
M entry
9 (32.1)
11 (39.3)
0.82 (0.4, 1.66)
M1
10 (40)
8 (50)
0.8 (0.4, 1.59)
M2
6 (30)
3 (33.3)
0.9 (0.29, 2.82)
M3
3 (42.9)
2 (28.6)
1.5 (0.35, 6.4)
Light
M entry
5 (17.9)
4 (14.3)
1.25 (0.37, 4.17)
M1
4 ()
6 (37.5)
0.43 (0.14, 1.28)
M2
1 ()
5 (55.6)
0.09 (0.01, 0.66)
M3
2 (28.6)
3 (42.9)
0.67 (0.16, 2.84)
Inconsistent
M entry
3 (10.7)
1 (3.6)
3 (0.33, 27.12)
M1
0
0
M2
2 ()
0
M3
0
0
indicates possible statistical significance, for example, .
