Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24339951›Full record

SynthesisPloS one2013

Can Chinese herbal medicine improve outcomes of in vitro fertilization? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Huijuan Cao, Mei Han, Ernest H Y Ng, Xiaoke Wu, Andrew Flower, George Lewith, Jian-Ping Liu

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Frontiers in nutrition · 2021
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Chinese medicine as complementary therapy for female infertility.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2017
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Women's health and Chinese integrative medicine.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Huijuan CaoCentre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Mei Han
Ernest H Y Ng
Xiaoke Wu
Andrew Flower
George Lewith
Jian-Ping Liu
Beijing University of Chinese Medicine · CNUniversity of Southampton · GBFirst Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine · CNUniversity of Hong Kong · HK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA 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.

objectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of CHM with concurrent IVF versus IVF alone on the outcomes of IVF and its safety.

methodsThe 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 I(2) test) among trials. All statistical analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software.

resultsTwenty 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<0.00001) and ongoing pregnancy rates (OR 1.91, 95%CI 1.17 to 3.10, p = 0.009). Use of CHM after embryo transfer had no better outcome in reducing the rate of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OR 0.39, 95%CI 0.14 to 1.11, p = 0.08).

conclusionsThis meta-analysis showed that combination of IVF and CHM used in the included trials improve IVF success, however due to the high risk of bias observed with the trials, the significant differences found with the meta-analysis are unlikely to be accurate. No conclusion could be drawn with respect to the reproductive toxicity of CHM. Further large randomized placebo controlled trials are warranted to confirm these findings before recommending women to take CHM to improve their IVF success.

Indexed as

Drugs, Chinese HerbalFertilization in VitroHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicDrugs, Chinese Herbal

Identifiers

PMID24339951
PMCPMC3858252
OpenAlexW2088988938

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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 OpenQuestion graph.