ArticleBMJ open2019
Acupuncture or metformin to improve insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: study protocol of a combined multinational cross sectional case-control study and a randomised controlled trial.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It reports registered trial NCT02647827. Cited by 13 papers.
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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.
Acupuncture or Metformin for Insulin Resistance in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Open the trial in the graphWho cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture of polycystic ovary syndrome: delving into bile acid metabolism.Chinese medicine · 2026Article
- The Hypothalamic Nuclei Implicated in the Regulation of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Review of Its Clinical, Metabolic, and Endocrine Aspects.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Single-cell profiling of the human endometrium in polycystic ovary syndrome.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Clinical symptom improvement and lipidomic signatures in overweight/obese PCOS treated by lifestyle and acupuncture intervention.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Letrozole +Medical acupuncture · 2023Article
- Research trends of acupuncture therapy on stress urinary incontinence from 1992 to 2022: A bibliometric analysis.Heliyon · 2023Review
- Effects of electroacupuncture on the kisspeptin-gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) /luteinizing hormone (LH) neural circuit abnormalities and androgen receptor expression of kisspeptin/neurokinin B/dynorphin neurons in PCOS rats.Journal of ovarian research · 2023Article
- Underlying mechanisms of acupuncture therapy on polycystic ovary syndrome: Evidences from animal and clinical studies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
- Electroacupuncture to Improve Endometrial Receptivity and Folliculogenesis in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Medical acupuncture · 2021Article
- Acupuncture for glucose and lipid metabolic disorders of polycystic ovarian syndrome: A systematic review protocol.PloS one · 2021Article
- Electroacupuncture alleviates polycystic ovary syndrome-like symptoms through improving insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and endoplasmic reticulum stress via enhancing autophagy in rats.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2020Article
- Electroacupuncture Effect on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome to Improve Oocytes' Growth.Medical acupuncture · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is linked to hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance with dysfunctional glucose metabolism. Pilot studies suggests that acupuncture treatment with combined manual and low-frequency electrical stimulation (electroacupuncture (EA)) of the needles decrease circulating glycated haemoglobulin (HbA1c) and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance. Therefore, we here aim to investigate if acupuncture treatment or metformin together with lifestyle or lifestyle management alone improves insulin sensitivity and related symptoms in overweight/obese women with PCOS. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a two-centre multinational (Sweden and China), cross-sectional case-control study combined with an open-labelled randomised controlled trial (RCT). Participants are randomised to one of three groups: (1) EA 2-3 times/week during 4 months+lifestyle management; (2) metformin, 500 mg, three/day during 4 months+lifestyle management; or (3) lifestyle management alone. The primary outcome measure in the RCT is changes in HbA1C. A total of 123 obese overweight women with PCOS will be enrolled and randomised into one of the three groups with a target power of at least 80% and 5% significance level based on two-sided tests. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board of Stockholm and of Peking University Third Hospital, China. Primary outcome data of the RCT will be published in a relevant journal together with supporting secondary outcome measurements. Further, outcome measurements will be published in separate papers as well as case-control data. EXPECTED
resultsWe anticipate that EA and metformin, both with lifestyle management, are equally effective and superior to lifestyle management alone for improvement of glycaemic control. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: NCT02647827 and EudraCT2015-004250-18.
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Registered trials
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.