Measuring the Effectiveness of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Improving Female Fertility

Aim: To determine the relationship between female fertility indicators and the administration of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM). Design: A prospective cohort clinical study to measure accepted bio-medical factors that affect female fertility and to determine if CHM can improve these factors as well as pregnancy outcome. Setting: A private practice specialising in treating infertility with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The study took place between November 2003 and December 2004. Patient(s): Fifty women with the Western medical diagnosis of unexplained infertility. Interventions: One monitored menstrual cycle measuring pre-treatment fertility factors, followed by treatment with Chinese herbal medicine and subsequent measurement of the changes in the same fertility factors. Results: Significant differences were observed between the two time points for the majority of factors measured. Pregnancies in the sample group recorded 6 months after commencement of the last treatment were 28, with 11 live births and 7 miscarriages. Conclusion: The study outcome demonstrates that using Chinese herbal medicine results in higher success rates of pregnancy, with no patient side-effects and a reduction in the category of patients conventionally classified as having unexplained infertility.