Effectiveness of acupuncture for induction of labor: a literature review
Item
Title
Effectiveness of acupuncture for induction of labor: a literature review
Description
JASA (2020), Miramon, Adam.
Abstract
Objective: the objective of this literature review is an evaluation of the current scientific evidence for acupuncture as a treatment for labor induction or cervical ripening.
Design: Alt HealthWatch, CINAHL, and Medline with Full Text databases were searched to identify relevant studies between 1999 and 2020.
Inclusion Criteria: Any study or systematic review of acupuncture to induce labor in human, pregnant at-term individuals.
Exclusion Criteria: Animal studies, studies in languages other than English, studies of acupressure/acupuncture for pain with labor.
Results: Five relevant studies met the inclusion criteria. two of these studies were randomized controlled studies and two were systematic literature reviews. The fifth study was a theoretical article to inform physicians. the results of the randomized controlled studies and the systematic reviews are inconclusive as two had favorable outcomes and two had unfavorable outcomes. the sample sizes of all randomized controlled studies including those evaluated in the systematic literature reviews were inadequate to provide definitive results.
Conclusion: There is a deficit of research into the field of acupuncture and obstetrics. There is a need for large scale, multi-center, well-designed, randomized controlled trials into acupuncture for induction of labor and cervical ripening. this review is limited by databases used and retrieval only of full text, which can result in excluding meta-analyses or other trials from the search.
Design: Alt HealthWatch, CINAHL, and Medline with Full Text databases were searched to identify relevant studies between 1999 and 2020.
Inclusion Criteria: Any study or systematic review of acupuncture to induce labor in human, pregnant at-term individuals.
Exclusion Criteria: Animal studies, studies in languages other than English, studies of acupressure/acupuncture for pain with labor.
Results: Five relevant studies met the inclusion criteria. two of these studies were randomized controlled studies and two were systematic literature reviews. The fifth study was a theoretical article to inform physicians. the results of the randomized controlled studies and the systematic reviews are inconclusive as two had favorable outcomes and two had unfavorable outcomes. the sample sizes of all randomized controlled studies including those evaluated in the systematic literature reviews were inadequate to provide definitive results.
Conclusion: There is a deficit of research into the field of acupuncture and obstetrics. There is a need for large scale, multi-center, well-designed, randomized controlled trials into acupuncture for induction of labor and cervical ripening. this review is limited by databases used and retrieval only of full text, which can result in excluding meta-analyses or other trials from the search.
Alternative Title
JASA
Creator
Date
Language
English
issn
2377-3723
issue
3
page end
13
page start
5
volume
7