The Prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use among Infertile Patients: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

There is a significant increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by infertile patients.This study aimed to assess the prevalence of CAM use by infertile patients. This review was conducted based on thePreferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The required data were obtainedby searching English databases (PubMed and Web of Science) as well as Google Scholar as an additional sourceof records. We included cross-sectional studies published in English journals up to March 2023 that examined theprevalence of CAM use among infertile patients in different countries. The retrieved articles were independentlyassessed by two reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved by discussion with the intent to reach a consensus. Wereviewed 1192 documents. From these, 29 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Theresults of meta-analysis conducted on 32, 804 infertile patients showed a prevalence rate of CAM use between26.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 21.7%-31.3%] and 96.1% (95% CI: 95.7%-96.5%) in various countries. Thepooled prevalence rate calculated by the random effects model showed that, overall, 54% (95% CI: 46%-61%) ofboth infertile women and men used CAM, whereas 55% (95% CI: 47%-67%) of infertile women and 29% (95%CI: 17%-41%) of infertile men reported treatment with CAM. More than half of the infertile patients used CAM.Therefore, healthcare practitioners need to be aware of this practice to better provide care for infertile patients.Further studies should examine the reasons for CAM use by infertile patients.

Keywords

• complementary and alternative medicine
• infertility
• prevalence