Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSHerbs do not help women conceive - British Fertility Society
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine do nothing to make pregnancy more likely, the British Fertility Society has said.
No evidence exists that complementary treatments can help women conceive, according to the society.
A specialist on the treatments said women who have problems with their fertility are being “misled”.
The advice from the society, which represents fertility clinics, was issued after it looked at the results of 14 studies which tested acupuncture and fertility treatment simultaneously among 2,670 patients.
The trials compared patients who were randomly given “real” treatments or “fake” ones.
Ying Cheong from Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, led the review, published in the society’s Human Fertility journal.
Professor Adam Balen, of the British Fertility Society, said: “We conclude that there is currently no evidence that acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine, when used in conjunction with assisted fertility treatment, have any beneficial effect on live birth rate, pregnancy rate or miscarriage rate.
“Patients should be made aware of this fact before commencing treatment.”
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 10-Mar-2010 3:00 pm
“We conclude that there is currently no evidence" does not mean it doesn't work. sloppy logic again.
results depend on what you look for and how you look for it as well as interpreting what you find.
no sources of trials mentioned
emotive descriptions such as 'fake' vs 'real'
sloppy reporting and i suspect investigations
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