title: Effects of acupuncture on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this article was to conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis of the trials of acupuncture during in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment on the outcomes of clinical pregnancy, biochemical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, implantation rate, live birth, and miscarriage.
  
  
  METHODS
  The search was conducted by using MEDLINE(®), SCISEARCH, the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group trials register, AMED, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMBASE, Wanfang Database, China Academic Journal Electronic full text Database in China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Index to Chinese Periodical Literature, ISI Proceedings for conference abstracts, and ISRCTN Register and Meta-register for randomized controlled trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study selection, quality appraisal, and data extraction were performed independently and in duplicate. The measures of treatment effect were the pooled relative risks (RR) of achieving clinical pregnancy, biochemical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, implantation rate, live birth, or miscarriage for women in the acupuncture group compared with women in the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the random-effects model, pooling of the effect estimates from all of the 17 trials showed no significant difference in the clinical pregnancy outcome between the acupuncture and the control groups (RR=1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94-1.26, p=0.25). No significant differences in the biochemical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, implantation rate, live birth, or miscarriage outcomes were found between the acupuncture and the control groups (biochemical pregnancy: RR=1.01, 95% CI 0.84-1.20, p=0.95; ongoing pregnancy: RR=1.20, 95% CI 0.93-1.56, p=0.16; implantation rate: RR=1.22, 95% CI 0.93-1.62, p=0.16; live birth: RR=1.42, 95% CI 0.92-2.20, p=0.11; miscarriage outcomes: RR=0.94, 95% CI 0.67-1.33, p=0.74).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No significant benefits of acupuncture are found to improve the outcomes of IVF or ICSI.
authors.affiliation: Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Jue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ru-Xiang
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D050498:Live Birth; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome