The effects of acupuncture on polycystic ovary syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractIntroduction A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out to assess the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture in treating polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Methods \ RCTs\ that compared either acupuncture with no/sham (placebo) acupuncture or a certain therapy with acupuncture added in the treatment of \ PCOS\ were included in the review. Measures of treatment effectiveness were the pooled odds ratios (OR) for women with \ PCOS\ having acupuncture compared with women in the control group for the recovery of menstrual cycles, standardized mean difference (SMD) for body mass index (BMI), fasting insulin (FINS), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and the ratio of LH/FSH. Results A total of nine \ RCTs\ (531 women) met criteria for inclusion into the systematic review. Using the random effects model, pooling of the effect estimates from all \ RCTs\ showed recovery of menstrual cycles (OR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.09–0.41, P < 0.01), \ BMI\ (SMD = −0.63, 95% CI: −1.04 to −0.21, P = 0.04), and \ LH\ (SMD = −0.39, 95% CI: −0.65 to −0.12, P < 0.01) which favored the acupuncture group. No significant differences were observed for FINS, FPG, \ FSH\ and the ratio of LH/FSH between acupuncture and control groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions Acupuncture appears to significantly improve the recovery of the menstrual cycles and decrease the levels of \ BMI\ and \ LH\ in women with PCOS. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the limited methodological quality of included RCTs