The Efficacy of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Treatment of Female Infertility

Table 1

Summary of randomized studies of the effect of acupuncture on infertility outcomes.

Study ID	Design	Sample size	Interventions	Outcomes	Limitation
26	RCT	160	Treatment arm: acupuncture intervention; control arm: no intervention	Treatment arm: PR, 42.5% [34 of 80]; control arm: PR, 26.3% [21 of 80]	Not mentioned blindness; Small sample size
27	Double-blind, RCT	225	Treatment arm: acupuncture intervention; control arm: placebo acupuncture intervention	Treatment arm: PR, 33.6%; OPR, 15.6%; control arm: PR, 28.4%; OPR, 13.8%	Small sample size
28	RCT	60	Treatment arm: acupuncture combined with TCM intervention; control arm: estradiol valerate tablets intervention	Treatment arm: PR, 26.7% [8 of 30]; control arm: PR, 6.7% [2 of 30]	Not mentioned blindness; Small sample size
31	Double-blind, RCT	1000	Treatment arms: active acupuncture plus clomiphene group; active acupuncture plus placebo group; control arms: control acupuncture plus clomiphene group; control acupuncture plus placebo group	There were no significant differences in outcomes of LBR between treatment arms and control arms
34	RCT	62	Treatment arm: acupuncture intervention; control arm: no intervention	There were no significant differences in outcomes of OPR between the two groups	Not mentioned blindness; Small sample size
47	Single-blind, RCT	60	Treatment arm: auricular acupuncture intervention; control arm: sham auricular acupuncture intervention	Auricular acupuncture revealed a significant increase in ghrelin level and decrease in leptin level than sham auricular acupuncture	Single-blind trial; Small sample size

Note: RCT: randomized clinical trial; PR: pregnancy rate; OPR: ongoing pregnancy rate; LBR: live birth rate. < 0.05 versus treatment arm.