SynthesisFrontiers in endocrinology2026
Clinical efficacy of acupuncture for women with PCOS undergoing IVF/ICSI: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Infertility constitutes a critical global reproductive health issue, with its overall incidence exhibiting a substantial upward trend. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is recognized as a predominant etiological factor in female infertility. Although accumulating clinical evidence suggests that acupuncture may exert therapeutic benefits in improving reproductive outcomes, existing findings remain inconsistent. Accordingly, this meta-analysis was conducted to systematically evaluate current randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and determine whether acupuncture improves clinical outcomes in infertile women with PCOS undergoing Methods: Relevant RCTs investigating the effects of acupuncture in infertile women with PCOS undergoing IVF/ICSI were identified through an exhaustive search of seven databases from inception to March 7, 2026. Forest plots were used to present the pooled evidence. The outcomes comprised one primary outcome and nine secondary outcomes. Risk of bias was appraised using the RoB 2.0 tool. Sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the stability of pooled estimates, while publication bias was assessed with Egger's and Begg's tests. Subgroup analyses were also conducted to evaluate differences in therapeutic effects on the primary outcome across acupuncture modalities, number of acupoints, and ovarian stimulation protocols. The certainty of the evidence was assessed utilizing GRADEpro GDT. Results: Of the 551 initially identified articles, 22 RCTs encompassing 2,299 infertile women with PCOS undergoing IVF/ICSI were included. Meta-analysis demonstrated that acupuncture therapy was associated with a 13% increase in clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) (RD = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.17; Conclusions: Evidence from 2,299 infertile women with PCOS suggests that acupuncture interventions may be associated with improved IVF/ICSI outcomes, although findings should be interpreted with caution due to the very low to moderate certainty of evidence. Further rigorous, multicenter studies with more standardized designs and training protocols are therefore warranted to confirm the efficacy of acupuncture in this population. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk, identifier CRD420261352381.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.