The Effects of Acupuncture on Pregnancy Outcomes of Recurrent Implantation Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

Author, year	Sample size	Excluded	RIF reason	Age (mean)		Acupuncture group	Control group	IVF outcome
				Acupuncture group	Control group
Ma 2019	70	0	ER	30.04 ± 2.98	30.55 ± 3.71	MA + HRT	HRT	CPR EIR ET EM EBF SDS ETN
Luo 2017	56	0	ER	33.8 ± 4.6	32.5 ± 4.1	MA + moxibustion + levofloxacin + dydrogesterone	Levofloxacin + dydrogesterone	CPR ET EIR ETN HQE MR BPR EM
Zhao 2019	102	0	ER	32.57 ± 4.25	32.95 ± 4.37	EA + TDP + HRT	Sham EA + HRT/HRT	CPR ET ETN SHL EIR BPR
Xu 2014	176	0	Unknown	32.5 ± 4.6	31.9 ± 4.3	TEAS + HRT	HRT	CPR SHL AF BMI ET BPR EIR ETN
Zhuang 2019	72	3	ER	34.29 ± 5.31	34.26 ± 5.30	MA + FET	FET	CPR ET EM EBF (PI; RI) BPR LBR TCMS
Villaherm-osa 2013	84	0	Unknown	36.0 ± 2.7	36.3 ± 2.15	MA + moxibustion	Sham MA/blank	CPR ON ET ETN BPR
Shuai 2019	124	2	ER	31.23 ± 3.78	31.58 ± 3.07	TEAS	MTEAS	CPR LBR ETN ET E2 EIR ON

EA: electro acupuncture, MA: manual acupuncture, TEAS: transcutaneous electrical acupuncture stimulation, MTEAS: mock transcutaneous electrical acupuncture stimulation, FET: frozen embryo transplantation, HRT: hormone replacement therapy, ER: endometrial receptivity, BPR: biochemical pregnancy rate, CPR: clinical pregnancy rate, BPR: biochemical pregnancy rate, MR: miscarriage rate, LBR: live birth rate, ETN: embryos transfer number, EIR: embryos implantation rate, MR: miscarriage rate, BMI: body mass index, ET: endometrial thickness, EM: endometrial morphology, EBF: endometrial blood flow, RI: resistance index, PI: pulse index, AF: antral follicles, HQE: high-quality embryo, SHL: sex hormone levels, ON: oocyte number, TCMS: traditional Chinese medicine syndrome, and SDS: self-rating depression scale.