Background: The effects of acupuncture on in-vitro fertilization outcomes remain controversial. This study aimed to perform a meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer compared to sham-controls or no adjuvant therapy controls on improving pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
Methods: A systematic literature search up to January 2021 was performed and 29 studies included 6623 individuals undergoing in-vitro fertilization at the baseline of the study; 3091 of them were using acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer, 1559 of them were using sham-controls, and 1441 of them were using no adjuvant therapy controls. They reported a comparison between the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer compared to sham-controls or no adjuvant therapy controls on improving pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer compared to sham-controls or no adjuvant therapy controls using the dichotomous method with a random or fixed-effect model.
Results: Significantly higher outcomes with acupuncture were observed in biochemical pregnancy (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.55-2.53, p < 0.001); clinical pregnancy (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.46-1.98, p < 0.001); ongoing pregnancy (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.41-2.26, p < 0.001); and live birth (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.15-2.18, p = 0.005) compared to no adjuvant therapy controls. However, no significant difference were found between acupuncture and no adjuvant therapy controls in miscarriage (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.48-1.92, p = 0.91). No significant difference was observed with acupuncture in biochemical pregnancy (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.65-2.08, p = 0.62); clinical pregnancy (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.83-1.54, p = 0.43); ongoing pregnancy (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.66-1.62, p = 0.87); live birth (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.73-1.42, p = 0.90), and miscarriage (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.86-1.55, p = 0.34) compared to sham-controls.
Conclusions: Using acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer may improve the biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and live birth outcomes compared to no adjuvant therapy controls. However, no significant difference was found between acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy to embryo transfer and sham-controls in any of the measured outcomes. This relationship forces us to recommend the use of acupuncture as adjuvant therapy in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization and inquire further studies comparing acupuncture and sham-controls to reach the best procedure.
Keywords: Acupuncture; Embryo transfer; In-vitro fertilization; Live birth; Miscarriage; Pregnancy; Sham-controls.
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