Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine to Achieve Fertility in Uninsured Patients

Perry, Tashera E.; Hirshfeld-Cytron, Jennifer

doi:10.1097/ogx.0b013e318286f780

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…CAM are also used to incorporate cultural traditions of health and fertility as well as increase feelings of hope and control during a biomedicalized fertility treatment plan [ 5 ]. Some patients also use CAM as an alternative to assisted reproductive technologies, although most fertility patients use CAM in addition to biomedical fertility treatment [ 6 , 7 ]. However, little comprehensive information exists on the effectiveness of these methods, leaving both patients and physicians lacking the necessary knowledge to make evidence-based decisions about whether to use CAM during fertility treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the use of complementary and alternative medicines during fertility treatment: a scoping review

Miner

Robins

Zhu

et al. 2018

BMC Complement Altern Med

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BackgroundComplementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are sometimes used by individuals who desire to improve the outcomes of their fertility treatment and/or mental health during fertility treatment. However, there is little comprehensive information available that analyzes various CAM methods across treatment outcomes and includes information that is published in languages other than English.MethodThis scoping review examines the evidence for 12 different CAM methods used to improve female and male fertility outcomes as well as their association with improving mental health outcomes during fertility treatment. Using predefined key words, online medical databases were searched for articles (n = 270). After exclusion criteria were applied, 148 articles were analyzed in terms of their level of evidence and the potential for methodological and author bias.ResultsSurveying the literature on a range of techniques, this scoping review finds a lack of high quality evidence that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) improves fertility or mental health outcomes for men or women. Acupuncture has the highest level of evidence for its use in improving male and female fertility outcomes although this evidence is inconclusive.ConclusionOverall, the quality of the evidence across CAM methods was poor not only because of the use of research designs that do not yield conclusive results, but also because results were contradictory. There is a need for more research using strong methods such as randomized controlled trials to determine the effectiveness of CAM in relation to fertility treatment, and to help physicians and patients make evidence-based decisions about CAM use during fertility treatment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-018-2224-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the use of complementary and alternative medicines during fertility treatment: a scoping review

Miner

Robins

Zhu

et al. 2018

BMC Complement Altern Med

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“…Treatment of infertility using CAM has been reported in studies from Australia [ 18 – 23 ], Canada [ 24 ], United Kingdom (UK) [ 25 , 26 ], United States (US) [ 27 – 29 ], Denmark [ 30 ], Jordan [ 31 ], Lebanon [ 32 ] and Turkey [ 33 ], reflecting patients’ acceptance and interest in alternative approaches to infertility treatment. Herbal supplements and acupuncture, used to supplement or replace ART, are perhaps the most studied infertility approaches [ 34 , 35 ]. The range of CAM modalities, treatments and emphasis on individualized therapies however, limits assessment of the therapeutic efficacy of CAM to treat infertility [ 13 , 33 , 34 , 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners in the support and treatment of infertility

O'Reilly

Sevigny

Sabarre

et al. 2014

BMC Complement Altern Med

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BackgroundInfertility patients are increasingly using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to supplement or replace conventional fertility treatments. The objective of this study was to determine the roles of CAM practitioners in the support and treatment of infertility.MethodsTen semi-structured interviews were conducted in Ottawa, Canada in 2011 with CAM practitioners who specialized in naturopathy, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, hypnotherapy and integrated medicine.ResultsCAM practitioners played an active role in both treatment and support of infertility, using a holistic, interdisciplinary and individualized approach. CAM practitioners recognized biological but also environmental and psychosomatic determinants of infertility. Participants were receptive to working with physicians, however little collaboration was described.ConclusionsIntegrated infertility patient care through both collaboration with CAM practitioners and incorporation of CAM’s holistic, individualized and interdisciplinary approaches would greatly benefit infertility patients.

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“…Acupuncture and herbal supplements are the most studied therapies, although dietary supplements may enhance fertility, the use of other more expensive forms of Complimentary Alternative Medicine such as acupuncture has had mixed results. 4 Based on an investigation of Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhea from a nation-wide database in Taiwan, Chen and colleagues 5 discovered the potential importance of Corydalis yanhusuo, Cyperus rotundus and Dang-Gui-Shao-YaoSan (DGSYS) in treating primary dysmenorrhea though have cautioned that based on their results further clinical trials or bench studies are warranted.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Herbal remedies and traditional medicines in reproductive health care practices and their clinical evaluation

Chaudhury

2015

Journal of Reproductive Health and Medicine

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Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine to Achieve Fertility in Uninsured Patients

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Evidence for the use of complementary and alternative medicines during fertility treatment: a scoping review

Evidence for the use of complementary and alternative medicines during fertility treatment: a scoping review

Perspectives of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners in the support and treatment of infertility

Herbal remedies and traditional medicines in reproductive health care practices and their clinical evaluation

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