The meta-analysis indicates that while adjuvant acupuncture does not show a pooled benefit for in vitro fertilization (IVF) across all trials, it appears to have a more significant effect in trials with lower baseline pregnancy rates, warranting further investigation and confirmation in additional studies.
Systematic Review IVF
This passage presents a meta-analysis that aimed to assess the overall pooled effects of adjuvant acupuncture on in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinical pregnancy success rates, as well as identify factors that might explain the heterogeneity of results across trials. The analysis included 16 trials with 4021 participants and found no statistically significant difference between acupuncture and control groups when combining all trials or analyzing sham-controlled and no adjuvant treatment-controlled trials separately. However, the study identified baseline pregnancy rate as a significant effect modifier, with trials having lower control group pregnancy rates showing larger effects of adjuvant acupuncture. Overall, the meta-analysis did not find a pooled benefit of adjuvant acupuncture for IVF, but the potential benefit in trials with lower baseline pregnancy rates requires further exploration and confirmation in additional studies due to potential confounders and publication bias.
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