Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for polycystic ovary syndrome: An overview of systematic reviews

Ref ID	915
First Author	H. Yang
Journal	THE JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Year Of Publishing	2023
URL	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095496422001261?via%3Dihub
Keywords	• Gynaecology • Complimentary & Alternative • Transparency • Protocols • Low methodological quality • Disclosure • Pre-specification
Problem(s)	• Individual study characteristics not reported sufficiently • Errors in study inclusion or omission of relevant studies • Poor consideration of publication bias • Reasons for excluding potentially eligible studies not provided • Conflicts of interest or funding of included studies not assessed • Financial conflicts of interest of review authors • No registered or published protocol
Number of systematic reviews included	11
Summary of Findings	From 11 included systematic reviews of acupuncture for Polycystic ovary syndrome indexed across nine electronic databases from inception to July 27 2022. Many of the included systematic reviews had deficiencies. Only 4 systematic reviews (36.36%) registered their protocol before the study began. Only 1 systematic review (9.09%) provided a list of excluded studies and justified the exclusions. Only 1 systematic review (9.09%) reported the sources of funding for the included RCTs. Only 2 systematic reviews (18.18%) examined the possibility of publication bias, and 6 systematic reviews (54.55%) stated no conflict of interest. There were 10 systematic reviews (90.91%) that had shortcomings, including incomplete retrieval and insufficiently detailed descriptions of the included randomised controlled trials.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results?	N/A
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study?	Yes