Research has indicated that women who use complementary or alternative therapies (CATs) while trying to conceive by assisted reproduction are less likely to get pregnant than those who use conventional medicine alone.
A study of 818 Danish fertility patients undergoing IVF treatment revealed that pregnancy rates were around 20 per cent lower among users of alternative medicine – such as acupuncture or reflexology – than among those who didn’t use such therapies.
Dr Jacky Boivin of Cardiff University in the UK, who led the research, said: “It may be that complementary therapies diminish the effectiveness of medical interventions. Or it may simply be that persistent treatment failure encourages women to seek out complementary and alternative therapies.”
The study was conducted with the University of Copenhagen. The team will follow up its research over the next five years to assess pregnancy rates over a longer period.
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