Kim Kyeong Han, Jang Soobin, Lee Ju Ah, Go Ho-Yeon, Jung Jeeyoun, Park Sunju, Lee Myeong Soo, Ko Seong-Gyu
1 Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Korean Medicine , Woosuk University, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea.
2 Clinical Medicine Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
J Altern Complement Med. 2018 Jun;24(6):570-577. doi: 10.1089/acm.2016.0384. Epub 2018 Mar 22.
Infertility has long been recognized as a treatable disease, and complementary and alternative medicine treatments, such as acupuncture and moxibustion, have been used in Korea and China. This study describes female infertility treatment programs that used traditional Korean medicine (TKM) and were conducted by local governments in Korea and evaluates its effectiveness and safety.
The authors officially requested related information from the report of the infertility treatment programs and related sources from 2006 to 2016 from the Health & Welfare Ministry of Korea and the Association of Korean Medicine (AKOM). Additional information was obtained from six Korean databases. Data including basic information about the programs, participant information, interventions, and outcomes were abstracted.
A total of 9 reports, including multiple years of data from 6 programs (total 13 programs), were identified. In these 13 programs, a total of 1023 female subjects participated, and 205 of the 887 subjects who completed the program reported a successful pregnancy, indicating a 23.1% pregnancy rate. The programs lasted 3-9 months, and interventional elements, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, fumigation, and massage, were identified. Significant adverse effects were not reported.
This study suggests that infertility treatment programs with TKM interventions exhibited a positive effect on pregnancy in females with infertility. Thus, the infertility treatment programs with TKM interventions are expected to be useful and might serve as the primary treatment before assisted reproduction techniques.
不孕症长期以来一直被认为是一种可治疗的疾病，针灸和艾灸等补充替代医学疗法已在韩国和中国得到应用。本研究描述了韩国地方政府开展的使用传统韩医学（TKM）的女性不孕症治疗项目，并评估了其有效性和安全性。
作者正式向韩国卫生与福利部及韩医学会（AKOM）索要了2006年至2016年不孕症治疗项目报告及相关来源的相关信息。另外还从六个韩国数据库获取了信息。提取了包括项目基本信息、参与者信息、干预措施和结果等数据。
共识别出9份报告，包括6个项目（共13个项目）多年的数据。在这13个项目中，共有1023名女性受试者参与，887名完成项目的受试者中有205名报告成功怀孕，妊娠率为23.1%。项目持续3至9个月，确定了草药、针灸、熏蒸和按摩等干预因素。未报告重大不良反应。
本研究表明，采用传统韩医学干预的不孕症治疗项目对不孕女性的妊娠有积极影响。因此，采用传统韩医学干预的不孕症治疗项目有望发挥作用，并可能作为辅助生殖技术之前的主要治疗方法。
