Herbal medicine for infertility - evidence of efficacy

 

Herbal medicine is a powerful tool to treat infertility; as a skilled herbalist it is an area of medicine I rely heavily on to deliver high pregnancy rates.

Below is some research that examines and reviews all evidence derived from Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs); this evidence is pretty powerful as it pools data from a number of research papers and finds that Chinese herbal medicine can improve pregancy rates 2 fold compared to biomedical drug therapy of IVF.  

 

Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine in the management of female infertility: a systematic review.

Review article

Ried K, et al. Complement Ther Med. 2011.

 

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) in the management of female infertility and on pregnancy rates compared with Western Medical (WM) treatment.

 

METHODS: We searched the Medline and Cochrane databases and Google Scholar until February 2010 for abstracts in English of studies investigating infertility, menstrual health and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We undertook meta-analyses of (non-)randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or cohort studies, and compared clinical pregnancy rates achieved with CHM versus WM drug treatment or in vitro fertilisation (IVF). In addition, we collated common TCM pattern diagnosis in infertility in relation to the quality of the menstrual cycle and associated symptoms.

 

RESULTS: Eight RCTs, 13 cohort studies, 3 case series and 6 case studies involving 1851 women with infertility were included in the systematic review. Meta-analysis of RCTs suggested a 3.5 greater likelihood of achieving a pregnancy with CHM therapy over a 4-month period compared with WM drug therapy alone (odds ratio=3.5, 95% CI: 2.3, 5.2, p<0.0001, n=1005). Mean (SD) pregnancy rates were 60±12.5% for CHM compared with 32±10% using WM drug therapy. Meta-analysis of selected cohort studies (n=616 women) suggested a mean clinical pregnancy rate of 50% using CHM compared with IVF (30%) (p<0.0001).

 

CONCLUSIONS: Our review suggests that management of female infertility with Chinese Herbal Medicine can improve pregnancy rates 2-fold within a 4 month period compared with Western Medical fertility drug therapy or IVF. Assessment of the quality of the menstrual cycle, integral to TCM diagnosis, appears to be fundamental to successful treatment of female infertility.

If you are struggling with fertility and feel that Chinese medicine can help than please contact me for your individual advice