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Acupuncture for induction of labour
1School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, City East Campus, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|February 20, 2004
Summary
Acupuncture appears safe for labor induction, but evidence of its effectiveness is limited. More high-quality research is needed to confirm its role in cervical ripening and labor induction.
Area of Science:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Reproductive Medicine
Background:
- Increasing use of complementary therapies in pregnancy and childbirth.
- Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine technique, involves needle insertion at specific body points.
- Limited observational studies suggest acupuncture for labor induction is safe with no known teratogenic effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effects of acupuncture for third-trimester cervical ripening or labor induction.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature search of multiple databases including Cochrane, PubMed, CISCOM, and EMBASE up to February 2003.
- Inclusion of clinical trials comparing acupuncture with placebo/no treatment or other labor induction methods.
- Utilized a two-stage data extraction strategy to manage complex labor induction trial data.
Main Results:
- Only one trial involving 56 women met the inclusion criteria.
- The data from the included trial were not suitable for meta-analysis.
Conclusions:
- Current evidence on acupuncture for labor induction is limited.
- Well-designed randomized controlled trials are necessary to determine the efficacy of acupuncture.
- Future research should focus on clinically meaningful outcomes for labor induction.