Increasing Use of Acupuncture Among Women Trying To Conceive, Los Angeles Times Examines

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 08 Jul 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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The Los Angeles Times on Monday examined how an increasing number of women are undergoing acupuncture as a fertility treatment after failing to become pregnant through more common treatments such as in vitro fertilization. Fertility specialists trace much of the current popularity of the procedure to a study published in the April 2002 issue of the... Journal of Fertility and Sterility (Conis, Los Angeles Times, 7/4). According to the study, which was conducted by Wolfgang Paulus and colleagues from the Christian-Lauritzen-Institut in Ulm, Germany, of the 160 study participants -- all of whom were undergoing IVF -- 34 of the 80 women who received acupuncture treatments became pregnant compared with 21 of 80 patients in the control group (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 4/18/02). However, Paulus in a 2003 study found that women who received acupuncture had the same pregnancy rate as women who received "sham acupuncture" -- in which needles were placed on acupuncture points without penetrating the skin -- raising the possibility of the "placebo effect" of the treatment, according to the Times. Although some doctors say it is irresponsible to recommend acupuncture to women trying to conceive based on current evidence, many others support or accept the practice because it is relatively safe. James Dillard of the Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine said, "It's a big black-and-white outcome; you're either pregnant or you're not. If it turns out it's just the placebo effect, who cares?" (Los Angeles Times, 7/4).

Los Angeles Times

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