Can Acupuncture Help Ease IVF Stress? New Study Says Yes

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For many women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), the process can bring physical discomfort, stress and anxiety. But new research shows that integrating whole systems traditional Chinese medicine (WS-TCM), including acupuncture, into fertility care may help ease these challenges.

Infertility, which affects one in five women in the U.S., is frequently treated with artificial reproductive technology (ART), a common form of IVF. However, only about 37% of ART cycles result in a healthy, live birth. In addition to the uncertainty of the outcome, each cycle costs between an estimated $12,000 to more than $25,000, creating a significant barrier to care. As a result, couples often face psychological stressors along with comorbid distress.

“There is an established link between stress and infertility, and reducing psychological stress is associated with improved pregnancy outcomes,” wrote lead investigator Rebecca Lu, M.D., associated with the Department of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “Thus, innovative strategies are needed to address the emotional and allostatic burdens of infertility care.”

WS-TCM, an integrative health and medicine modality, may be able to help. The practice includes a combination of therapies like acupuncture, herbal medicine, and dietary and lifestyle recommendations that are often tailored to a person’s individual health needs.

The modality is gaining popularity among patients within infertility care, with results of one study showing 38.5% of people used WS-TCM to improve both IVF outcomes as well as related stressors.

The Study

A team of investigators examined nearly 1,900 WS-TCM treatments given to 146 women going through IVF at a single academic medical center (University Hospitals Fertility Center).

Acupuncture treatments could be scheduled before, during and after an embryo transfer. The center also invited patients to follow up with weekly treatments throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. The initial appointments were 90 minutes, followed by 60-minute follow-up visits.

In this analysis, about 65% of patients received WS-TCM treatment before the embryo transfer, 89% had treatment the day of transfer, and 32% received care after the transfer.

The average patient was about 36 years old, 79.5% were White, and more than a quarter had a diagnosed mental health condition like anxiety or depression.

The Findings

Investigators found that even just one session of WS-TCM was associated with meaningful reductions in the following:

• Pain: Patients reported an average drop of about 1.4 points (on a 0-10 scale).
• Stress: Average stress levels decreased by more than 2 points.
• Anxiety: Anxiety scores also dropped by more than 2 points.

These improvements were based on patient-reported outcome scores measured just before and immediately after each treatment.

While this study offers valuable insights, investigators mentioned some important limitations to keep in mind. The study gathered symptom feedback from only a portion of the patients, not everyone who received acupuncture during IVF, and they did not include a control group. Additionally, acupuncture was given alongside other TCM methods like diet and lifestyle recommendations, so it’s hard to know exactly how much of the benefit came from acupuncture alone. Lastly, only patients who filled out posttreatment surveys were included in the results, which could lead to overly positive outcomes if more satisfied patients were the ones who responded.

Investigators said that while more research is needed to evaluate long-term IVF outcomes, the real-world data show that WS-TCM can improve the overall patient experience during fertility treatments.

“Our findings suggest that patients receiving WS-TCM while undergoing IVF report clinically significant single-treatment improvements in pain, stress and anxiety, which is especially important given the high prevalence of psychosocial stressors and mental health conditions within this population,” investigators concluded.