Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion in pregnant women with noncephalic presentation: An overview of systematic reviews

Background: Breech presentation at the time of delivery is 3.8-4%. Fetuses that maintain a noncephalic presentation beyond 32 weeks will have a lower probability of spontaneous version before labor. Given the increasing interest in exploring the use of complementary medicine during pregnancy and chi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Miranda García, Maite, Domingo Gómez, Cristina, Molinet Coll, Cristina, Nishishinya Aquino, Maria Betina, Allaoui, Ikram, Gómez Roig, Ma. Dolores, Goberna Tricas, Josefina
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2019
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/223866
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/223866
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/223866
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Fetus
Complicacions en l'embaràs
Acupuntura
Complications of pregnancy
Acupuncture
Description
Summary:Background: Breech presentation at the time of delivery is 3.8-4%. Fetuses that maintain a noncephalic presentation beyond 32 weeks will have a lower probability of spontaneous version before labor. Given the increasing interest in exploring the use of complementary medicine during pregnancy and childbirth, the moxibustion technique, a type of traditional Chinese medicine, could be another option to try turning a breech baby into a cephalic presentation. Objectives: To review the evidence from systematic reviews (SR) on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion in pregnant women with noncephalic presentation. Main results: Our SR synthesizes the results from five clinical trials on pregnant women with a singleton noncephalic presentation. There is evidence that moxibustion reduces the number of noncephalic presentations at the time of birth compared with no treatment. The adverse effects that acupuncture and moxibustion can cause seem to be irrelevant. Most SRs agree that there are no adverse effects directly related to acupuncture and moxibustion. Conclusions: Even though the results obtained are positive and the five reviews conclude that moxibustion reduces the number of noncephalic presentations at birth (alone or combined with postural techniques or acupuncture), there is considerable heterogeneity between them. Better methodologically designed studies are required in the future to reaffirm this conclusion.