Effect of Acupuncture on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Animal Models: A Systematic Review
Table 3
Quality of evidence assessment.
Certainty assessment
No. of patients
Effect
Certainty
Importance
No. of studies
Study design
Risk of bias
Inconsistency
Indirectness
Imprecision
Other considerations
Acupuncture
Control
Relative (95% CI)
Absolute (95% CI)
HOMA-IR
6
Randomised trials
Not serious
Seriousa
Seriousb
Seriousc,d
None
51
51
—
SMD 1.28 lower (2.77 lower to 0.22 higher)
⨁◯◯◯ Very low
Critical
T
8
Randomised trials
Not serious
Seriousa
Seriousb
Seriousc
None
87
84
—
SMD 2.18 lower (3.42 lower to 0.94 lower)
⨁◯◯◯ Very low
Critical
LH
9
Randomised trials
Not serious
Not serious
Seriousb
Seriousc
None
94
91
—
SMD 0.71 lower (1.27 lower to 0.15 lower)
⨁⨁◯◯ Low
Important
LH/FSH
7
Randomised trials
Not serious
Not serious
Seriousb
Seriousc,d
None
68
65
—
SMD 0.59 lower (1.29 lower to 0.12 higher)
⨁⨁◯◯ Low
Important
FBG
6
Randomised trials
Not serious
Not serious
Seriousb
Seriousc,d
None
54
57
—
SMD 0.02 lower (0.8 lower to 0.75 higher)
⨁⨁◯◯ Low
Important
FINS
7
Randomised trials
Not serious
Seriousa
Seriousb
Seriousc,d
None
62
65
—
SMD 1.46 lower (3.39 lower to 0.48 higher)
⨁◯◯◯ Very low
Important
BW
4
Randomised trials
Not serious
Serious a
Seriousb
Seriousc,d
None
44
48
—
SMD 1.67 lower (4.04 lower to 0.7 higher)
⨁◯◯◯ Very low
Important
GRADE: Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation; CI: confidence interval; SMD: standardized mean difference. aI values exceed 75%. bDifferent animal modelling methods; differences in treatment cycle and dosage; physiological and pathological differences between rodents and humans. cSmall sample size. d95% CI included one.
