Can Chinese Herbal Medicine Improve Outcomes of In Vitro Fertilization? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: e81650

• Published in: PloS one 2013-12, Vol.8 (12)
• Main Authors: Cao, Huijuan, Han, Mei, Ng, Ernest HY, Wu, Xiaoke, Flower, Andrew, Lewith, George, Liu, Jian-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical trials
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081650

Background A large number of infertile couples are choosing Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) as an adjuvant therapy to improve their success when undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). There is no systematic review to evaluate the impact of CHM on the IVF outcomes. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of CHM with concurrent IVF versus IVF alone on the outcomes of IVF and its safety. Methods The protocol of this study is registered at PROSPERO. Eligible RCTs searched from 8 databases which compared a combination of CHM and IVF with IVF alone were included. Two authors independently selected studies, extracted data and assessed methodological quality. Meta-analysis of RCTs was conducted if there was non-significant heterogeneity (evaluated by I2 test) among trials. All statistical analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. Results Twenty trials involving 1721 women were included in the meta-analysis. Three trials were evaluated as having an unclear risk of bias. The remaining trials were evaluated as having a high risk of bias. Combination of CHM and IVF significantly increases clinical pregnancy rates (OR 2.04, 95%CI 1.67 to 2.49, p