Interesting but is it proven?

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On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:02:05 +0100, you wrote:

To a reasonable doubt... yes. To "wanna believers"... no, but only because
the wanna believers seem remarkably fact resistant. =

.
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Acupuncture has 'no effect' on pregnancy rates following IVF, say experts

Mark Henderson, Science Editor in Barcelona =

Infertile women who spend hundreds of pounds on acupuncture during IVF
treatment are doing nothing to improve their chances of having a baby, the
most extensive review of the evidence yet conducted has found. =

Acupuncture has no effect at all on pregnancy rates following IVF,
according to a study that has examined all the high-quality trials to
investigate its use by fertility clinics. =

The findings, from a team at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital in London,
will
dismay thousands of infertility patients, among whom acupuncture has
become
the most popular complementary therapy. =

While no official figures on its use are kept, demand is so great that
several fertility clinics, such as Hammersmith Hospital in London, have
set
up on-site acupuncture services for their patients. Costs vary, but the
Hammersmith unit charges =A3240 for an =93IVF package=94 of four
acupuncture
sessions.

The new research, led by Sesh Sunkara, is a meta-analysis, in which the
results of many high-quality randomised controlled trials are pooled to
provide a more complete picture of a medical procedure's effectiveness. =

She said that while she had been open-minded about acupuncture before
starting the investigation, she felt that she could not recommend it to
patients. =

=93If women come to me and ask if they should have acupuncture, I have to
s=
ay
there is no evidence that it helps,=94 she told the European Society of
Hum=
an
Reproduction and Embryology conference in Barcelona. =93Women are
investing
hope, energy and time in something that has not shown a definite benefit.
=

=93The reason we chose to do this was that in our IVF clinic, every day we
have patients who ask whether they should have acupuncture to improve
their
success rate. There have been all sorts of papers saying that sticking
pins
and needles increases the pregnancy rate, which have been widely reported
in the media, and we are looking at women who are very vulnerable, who
want
to do everything possible to increase their pregnancy chances. =

=93We wanted to look at this in an unbiased, open-minded way, to help us
advise our patients. We wanted to know whether we should be doing
acupuncture routinely and setting up a service in our clinic, or whether
we
should be advising people that there is no evidence that it works.=94 =

In the study, Dr Sunkara identified 83 trials in the medical literature,
of
which 13 were found to be of suitable quality to be included in the
meta-analysis. The others were rejected either because they were
commentary
articles that did not include data, or because they were inappropriately
designed. =

Pregnancy rate and live birth rate were the only outcomes considered, and
the results showed that acupuncture had no effect on either, whether it
was
used during embryo transfer or for pain relief while eggs were collected.
=

The research contradicts a similar meta-analysis that was published in the
British Medical Journal in February, which suggested that acupuncture can
improve pregnancy rates by as much as 65 per cent if performed when
embryos
are transferred to the womb. =

Scientists behind the new work said that the BMJ study had overlooked a
number of good studies that reached negative conclusions. Professor Peter
Braude, who supervised the Guy's and St Thomas' team, said: =93The BMJ
paper
didn't include all the studies, and if you include the negative ones there
is no effect. We can't turn around and say it does not work, but there is
no evidence it does and hand on heart we can't come out and recommend it.=
=94 =

Dr Sunkara said that more large randomised clinical trials of acupuncture
in IVF were needed to settle the issue. =

Paul Robin, the chairman of the Acupuncture Society, said: =93I'm really
surprised by these findings. I've been treating people for 20 years and in
my experience treatment does seem to improve their chances of becoming
pregnant. This study has shown that there's no proof that acupuncture can
help - so that suggests that there should be lots more studies to examine
the question. I'm convinced it can help.=94 =

Other studies that have claimed a benefit for acupuncture have
hypothesised
that it helps with relaxation during embryo transfer, which may boost the
chances of a successful implantation and pregnancy. It has also been
suggested that the therapy may increase blood flow to the womb. =

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article4294839.ece

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