ArticleTrials2020
A multicenter randomized trial of personalized acupuncture, fixed acupuncture, letrozole, and placebo letrozole on live birth in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
Article in Trials, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03625531 (A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Personalized Acupuncture, Fixed Acupuncture, Letrozole and Placebo on Live Birth for Infertility in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Personalized Acupuncture, Fixed Acupuncture, Letrozole and Placebo on Live Birth for Infertility in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Suboptimal reporting of randomized controlled trials on non-pharmacological therapies in Chinese medicine.Frontiers of medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Aromatase inhibitors (letrozole) for ovulation induction in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Integrative Approaches to Ovulation Induction in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Narrative Review of Conventional and Complementary Therapies.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Experimental analysis of acupuncture's effects on hyperandrogenemia and related symptoms in PCOS patients.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Efficacy and safety of laser acupuncture for treating insomnia in major depressive disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine regulating polycystic ovary syndrome through gut microbiota: a review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- The Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment on the Cumulative Live Birth Rate of Patients with Poor Ovarian Response to the Patient-Oriented Strategies Encompassing Individualized Oocyte Number Criteria.International journal of women's health · 2024Article
- Effects of TCM on polycystic ovary syndrome and its cellular endocrine mechanism.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
- The Application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Infertility.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Bibliometric Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Fertility-enhancing effect of oil-based contrast agents during hysterosalpingography and the variation of this effect within a 3-year follow-up period in infertile patients.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- The Challenges of Ethical Review in Clinical Research of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
22 authors at 11 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) usually involves syndrome differentiation and treatment. Acupuncture, one form of TCM, requires the selection of appropriate acupoints and needling techniques, but many clinical trials on acupuncture have used fixed acupuncture protocols without accounting for individual patient differences. We have designed a multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate whether personalized or fixed acupuncture increases the likelihood of live births in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared with letrozole or placebo letrozole. We hypothesize that letrozole is more effective than personalized acupuncture, which in turn is more effective than fixed acupuncture, and that placebo letrozole is the least effective intervention. Moreover, we hypothesize that personalized acupuncture is more likely to reduce the miscarriage rate and the risk of pregnancy complications compared with letrozole. METHODS/
designThe study is designed as an assessor-blinded RCT. A total of 1100 infertile women with PCOS will be recruited from 28 hospitals and randomly allocated to 4 groups: personalized acupuncture, fixed acupuncture, letrozole, or placebo letrozole. They will receive treatment for 16 weeks, and the primary outcome is live birth. Secondary outcomes include ovulation rate, conception rate, pregnancy rate, pregnancy loss rate, changes in hormonal and metabolic parameters, and changes in quality of life scores. Adverse events will be recorded throughout the trial. All statistical analyses will be performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA), and a P value < 0.05 will be considered statistically significant. DISCUSSION: This study will be the first multicenter RCT to compare the effect of personalized or fixed acupuncture with letrozole or placebo letrozole on live birth in infertile women with PCOS. The findings will inform whether personalized acupuncture therapy can be considered an alternative treatment to improve the live birth rate in infertile women with PCOS.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03625531. Registered on July 13, 2018. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800017304. Registered on July 23, 2018.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.