Cochrane Suzanne, Smith Caroline A, Possamai-Inesedy Alphia, Bensoussan Alan
School of Science and Health, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
Int J Womens Health. 2014 Mar 17;6:313-25. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S38969. eCollection 2014.
Acupuncture and other modalities of Chinese/East Asian medicine have been used to treat women's health for many centuries. Gynecology specialties focus particularly on menstrual and reproductive disorders. Both the adoption of the use of acupuncture outside Asia, and the incorporation of scientific analysis in Asia have challenged biomedical conceptions of what can be achieved with this treatment method. The scale of research activity in relation to acupuncture and women's health has increased over the last 20 years.
This review aims to explore the research evidence in relation to acupuncture use for women's reproductive disorders, focusing on both clinical findings and experimental research on acupuncture's mechanisms of action in relation to women's health.
A narrative literature search was undertaken using searches of electronic databases and manual searches of journals and textbooks. The search included all literature published prior to June 2013. The literature was assessed as to the nature of the study it was reporting and findings synthesized into a commentary.
For acupuncture's mechanism of action the search resulted in 114 relevant documents; in relation to clinical reports on the use of acupuncture for women's health 204 documents were found and assessed.
There is preliminary data indicating acupuncture may improve menstrual health and coping for women experiencing delays falling pregnant. There is experimental data showing that acupuncture can influence female reproductive functioning, although the actual mechanisms involved are not yet clarified. Further well-conducted clinical research would benefit our understanding of the usefulness of acupuncture to women's health.
针灸及其他中医/东亚医学疗法用于治疗女性健康问题已有数百年历史。妇科专科尤其关注月经和生殖系统紊乱。在亚洲以外地区对针灸疗法的采用，以及亚洲地区对科学分析的纳入，都对这种治疗方法所能取得的效果的生物医学观念提出了挑战。在过去20年里，与针灸和女性健康相关的研究活动规模有所增加。
本综述旨在探讨针灸用于治疗女性生殖系统紊乱的研究证据，重点关注临床研究结果以及关于针灸对女性健康作用机制的实验研究。
通过检索电子数据库以及手动检索期刊和教科书进行叙述性文献检索。检索涵盖2013年6月之前发表的所有文献。根据所报告研究的性质对文献进行评估，并将研究结果综合成一篇评论。
关于针灸作用机制的检索得到114篇相关文献；关于针灸用于女性健康的临床报告方面，共找到并评估了204篇文献。
有初步数据表明，针灸可能改善月经健康状况，并帮助难以受孕的女性提高受孕几率。有实验数据显示，针灸可影响女性生殖功能，尽管其中实际涉及的机制尚不清楚。进一步开展严谨的临床研究将有助于我们了解针灸对女性健康的效用。
