Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Hadi Danawi

Abstract

One out of every 8 couples experiences infertility. Few publications exist examining the association between the addition of adjunctive therapies when applied to the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure and pregnancy outcome. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of 2 types of adjunct acupuncture exposures on IVF outcomes by applying the concept of the epidemiology triad. The association between the type of adjunct acupuncture exposure received (the independent variable) and pregnancy (the outcome) was determined via binary logistic regression using SPSS software. Medical records of women having received the IVF procedure along with adjunct acupuncture were eligible for analysis. A total of 444 qualifying patient records were collected from participating acupuncture clinics. Analysis of the data showed there was no significant difference in pregnancy outcomes between the two types of adjunct acupuncture reviewed. However, an increase in pregnancy outcomes was noted in the adjunct acupuncture groups when compared with pregnancy outcomes in IVF protocols without the addition of adjunct acupuncture. Additionally, there was no significant difference between pregnancy outcomes when accounting for various race or age groups. This study has implications for positive social change in the form of both providing data to women undergoing the IVF procedure to allow for more informed decision making and ultimately with hopes of improving the odds of success to the nearly 165,000 IVF procedures undergone in America each year.

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