July 5, 2007

comments on the effect of complementary therapy on the success of IVF treatment

An expert in complementary medicine responds to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology which suggested that complementary therapy adversely affected the success rate of IVF treatment.

Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine, Exeter Univesity, said:

“This is interesting and similar associations have been made in cancer patients – those who use Complementary or Alternative Medicine (CAM) are on average more distressed and more depressed. The important question is whether the chicken or the egg came first? The most likely explanation is that those women who are prone to stress and have more health problems are more likely to try CAM. So CAM could only be a marker and not the cause of stress and lower success rates.”