Combined traditional Chinese medicine therapies show significantly better efficacy in treating infertility linked with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome than individual techniques or western medicines.
This study was an extensive network meta-analysis which reviewed randomized controlled trials of various combined traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome correlating with infertility. Sources used for acquiring data were multiple databases, which included PubMed, web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Knowledge Network, Wanfang Data, VIP Database, and China Biomedical Literature Database. After gathering the information, further evaluation on the quality of the data was performed using specific risk of bias assessment tools.
In terms of results, this meta-analysis found that among the 28 analysed trials, combined therapies featuring acupuncture, herbs, fire acupuncture, moxibustion and acupoint application had demonstrable advantages over acupuncture, herbal, and western medicines monotherapy. Interestingly, ovulation rates and clinical pregnancy rates were influenced differently by the therapies, suggesting that the optimal treatment may depend on the specific outcome being prioritized.
