Table 1.

Characteristics of studies included in this paper.

Author	Main objective	Power calculation		Intervention				Control			Acupuncture juncture	CPR	LBR	Analysis
			MA	EA	LA	Sham Acu. at acupoints	Sham Acu. at non- or inappropriate points	NT or RX	Sham LA	Adhesive tapes
(1) Paulus et al. [21]	IVF outcome	No	√					√			A	√		ITT
(2) Paulus et al. [22]	IVF outcome	No	√			√					A	√		ITT
(3) Smith et al. [23]	IVF outcome	Yes	√				√				A	√		ITT
(4) Westergaard et al. [24]	IVF outcome	Yes	√ (2)					√			A	√		TPP
(5) Dieterle et al. [25]	IVF outcome	Yes	√				√				A	√		ITT
(6) Benson et al. [26]	IVF outcome	No	√		√			√ (2)	√		A	√		ITT
(7) Craig et al. [27]	IVF outcome	No	√					√			A	√		TPP
(8) Cui et al. [28]	IVF outcome	No		√				√			C	√		ITT
(9) Fratterelli et al. [29]	IVF outcome	Unclear	√		√			√ (2)	√		A	√	√	ITT
(10) Chen et al. [30]	IVF outcome	No		√				√			C	√		ITT and TPP
(11) Domar et al. [31]	IVF outcome,	No	√					√			A	√		ITT
(12) Ho et al. [32]	IVF outcome	No		√				√			C	√		ITT
(13) So et al. [33]	IVF outcome	Yes	√			√					A	√	√	ITT
(14) So et al. [34]	IVF outcome	Yes	√			√					A	√	√	ITT
(15) Andersen et al. [35]	IVF outcome	Yes	√			√					A	√	√	ITT and TPP
(16) Madaschi et al. [36]	IVF outcome	Yes	√					√			A	√	√	ITT
(17) Arnoldi et al. [37]	IVF outcome	Unclear	√					√			C	√		ITT and TPP
(18) Moy et al. [38]	IVF outcome	Yes	√				√				A	√		TPP
(19) Cui et al. [39]	IVF outcome	No		√				√			C	√		TPP
(20) Stener-Victorin et al. [3]	Pain relief	No		√				√			B	√	√	TPP
(21) Stener-Victorin et al. [40]	Pain relief	Yes		√				√			B	√		TPP
(22) Humaidan and Stener-Victorin [41]	Pain relief	Yes		√				√			B	√		TPP
(23) Sator-Katzenschlager et al. [42]	Pain relief	Yes	√	√						√	B	√		TPP
Total	19 IVF outcome, 4 Pain relief	11 yes	16(17)	8	2	4	3	15(17)	2	1	14A 4B 5C	23	6	15 ITT, 11 TPP

Note: MA: manual acupuncture; EA: electroacupuncture; LA: laser acupuncture; Acu.: acupuncture. NT: non intervention treatment; RX: relaxation. A: acupuncture was used around the time of embryo transfer (ET); B: acupuncture was used around the time of oocyte aspiration (OA); C: acupuncture was mainly performed during the course of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH); CPR: clinical pregnancy rate; LBR: live birth rate; Westergaard 2006 MA (2): two MA groups; Benson 2006, Fratterelli 2008 NT, or RX (2): two controlled groups. ITT: intention to treat analysis; TPP: treated-per-protocol analysis.