[Is acupuncture ineffective in treating infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome? A reanalysis of data on the clinical trial by WU Xiaoke's team published on JAMA]

Abstract

WU Xiaoke, Stener-Victorin and Richard Legro's team published a randomized clinical trial entitled Effect of acupuncture and clomiphene in Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized clinical trial in JAMA on June 27, 2017. Their conclusion is "this finding does not support acupuncture as an infertility treatment in such women". We found that the trial design had serious flaws and that the results could not lead to the conclusion. Based on the reanalysis for the study data and those published in other medical journals recently from the team, it was found that acupuncture plus clomiphene or control acupuncture plus clomiphene had more excellent live birth rate, ovulation rate and cumulative ovulation rate than clomiphene alone, with statistical and clinical significance. The conclusion of the trial is potentially incorrect.

Keywords: acupuncture; acupuncture control; live birth rate; ovulation rate; polycystic ovary syndrome; secondary analysis.