Table 1.
Characteristics of included trials.
| References | N(I/C) |
Mean age (I/C; y) |
Duration of infertility (I/C; y) |
Acupuncture | Control | Sessions; Frequencies; Cyclesa | FET outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen et al. (20) | 94 (44/50) | 32.07/33.59 | 6.26/7.08 | EA | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; qd, starting on day 5, and only 1 time after FET; 1 | CPR, ET |
| Deng et al. (27) | 100 (49/51) | 35.52/35.68 | Unclear | EA | No adjuvant treatment | Before FET; qod, after menstruation and until FET; 1 | CPR, ET |
| Feng (21) | 79 (39/40) | 31.21/30.10 | 3.18/3.90 | TEAS | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; 24 h before FET and 0.5–4 h after FET; 1 | CPR, BPR, ET, EP |
| Liang et al. (26) | 83 (43/40) | 31.86/31.98 | Unclear | TEAS | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; qd, 3 days; 1 | CPR, BPR, ET |
| Liu and Tang (23) | 63 (31/32) | 38.42/39.38 | 7.57/7.05 | WNM | No adjuvant treatment | Before FET; qd, starting on day 10; 3 | CPR, BPR, ET, EP |
| Ma et al. (22) | 60 (30/30) | 30.00/31.00 | 4.10/4.70 | WNM | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; qd, starting on day 2; 1 | CPR, ET, EP |
| Shuai et al. (29) | 68 (34/34) | 29.47/29.65 | 4.56/3.88 | TEAS | Shamb TEAS | Before FET; qod, starting on day 3, 6 times per cycle; 3 | CPR, LBR, ET, EP |
| So et al. (11) | 226 (113/113) | 36.00/36.00 | 5.00/5.00 | TA | Sham TA | After FET; immediately after FET; 1 | CPR, LBR |
| Xing et al. (28) | 68 (34/34) | 34.85/34.24 | 4.64/4.94 | TA | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; tiw, performing FET in the third cycle; 3 | CPR, LBR |
| Xu et al. (10) | 60 (30/30) | 31.00/30.00 | 3.30/2.96 | TA | No adjuvant treatment | Before FET; qod, starting on day 2; 1 | CPR, ET, EP |
| Xue et al. (9) | 74 (37/37) | 35.00/34.00 | 5.00/5.20 | TA/WNM | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; qod, starting on day 5, until 14 days after FET or next menstruation; 1–3 | CPR, ET, EP |
| Yang (24) | 60 (30/30) | 32.07/33.00 | 5.97/5.20 | TA/WNM | No adjuvant treatment | Before FET; tiw, until FET; 2 | CPR, BPR, ET |
| Zhang et al. (19) | 26 (14/12) | 30.30/32.50 | 5.80/4.50 | EA | No adjuvant treatment | Before FET; qod, after menstruation and until FET; 1 | CPR, ET |
| Zhuang (25) | 69 (34/35) | 34.29/34.26 | 4.38/4.20 | TA/WNM | No adjuvant treatment | Around FET; tiw, performing FET in the third cycle; 3 | CPR, BPR, LBR, ET, EP |
N(I/C), Number of participants (Intervention / Control); Y, Year; qd, once a day; qod, once every other day; tiw, 3 times a week; EA, electroacupuncture; TA, traditional acupuncture; TEAS, transcutaneous electrical acupuncture point stimulation; WNM, warm needle moxibustion; CPR, clinical pregnancy rate; BRP, biochemical pregnancy rate; LBR, live birth rate; ET, endometrial thickness; EP, endometrial pattern.
a
The menstrual cycles that acupuncture treatment lasted for, regardless of acupuncture frequencies and times in each cycle.
b
For all sham-controlled trials, the same acupoints were applied as in the true acupuncture group.