A study comparing the effects of real and placebo acupuncture during IVF (in vitro fertilisation) found that the placebo acupuncture was associated with a significantly higher overall rate of pregnancy.

Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine needles into various parts of the body. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong looked at both real and placebo acupuncture given on the day of embryo transfer in 370 patients undergoing assisted reproduction.

They found that the overall pregnancy rate for placebo acupuncture was 55.1% compared to 43.8% for the real acupuncture.

“We found a significantly higher overall pregnancy rate following placebo acupuncture when compared with that of real acupuncture. In addition, there was a trend towards higher rates of clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, live birth and embryo implantation in the placebo acupuncture group, although the differences did not reach statistical significance,” explained Dr Ernest Hung Yu Ng.

According to the researchers, their results suggest that placebo acupuncture may not act as an inert control for real acupuncture, but may actually be having a real effect. This theory is supported by the fact that measurements for the receptivity of the uterus and the levels of patient stress changed significantly for both the real and control groups after the women had received the real or placebo acupuncture.

Dr Ng suggests two possible explanations for the results.

“Placebo acupuncture is similar to acupressure and therefore is good enough to improve the pregnancy rate. Or else it is possible that real acupuncture may, in some way, reduce the pregnancy rate of acupuncture,” he explained.

However he pointed out that in previous studies, pregnancy rates were higher among acupuncture groups than control groups. As a result, further studies ‘should be conducted to compare placebo or non-invasive acupuncture and controls without acupuncture’.

Meanwhile a further analysis by Dr Ng showed a significant improvement in pregnancy rates for acupuncture treatment when it was delivered on the day of embryo transfer, but not if it was given on the day when the oocytes (the cells from which eggs develop) were retrieved from the woman’s womb.

“I believe that acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer can improve the pregnancy rate. However there are still some unresolved issues. The improvement in the pregnancy rates of IVF treatment with acupuncture are higher than that for drugs or other procedures given to enhance the success of this treatment and the underlying biological mechanism is difficult to explain,” he added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Human Reproduction.