Strengths and limitations
PCOS
LIPID METABOLISM DISORDER
This research is the first study to use the most comprehensive scale to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on women with PCOS, and it is found that acupuncture can regulate emotion and lipid metabolism disorder, which may have a correlation, based on 1,000 PCOS women from randomized controlled trials that include the factorial design, adequate power, similar withdrawal rates among groups, and high adherence to treatment. Furthermore, acupuncture had a positive effect on levels of serum Ca, serum K, and serum Cl, which may also be another mechanism of acupuncture regulating emotion.However, there were some limitations in our study. Firstly, both acupuncture and sham acupuncture played a role in the present study, and it was not clear what the specific mechanism was. On the one hand, sham acupuncture may have a comforting needle effect, and on the other hand, the techniques of acupuncturists may be different, although our acupuncturists had undergone several rounds of standardized and uniform training. Secondly, there was subjectivity in the assessment of acupuncture scale by PCOS patients. Although our research assistants have undergone intensive training on a regular basis, the particular variations in individual indicators may be caused by the subjective reasons of the research assistants. Thirdly, the subgroup analysis was not carried out based on BMI, which may lead to the deviation of the research results. Finally, the article only determined the potential relationships, and the specific mechanisms of the regulatory effect of acupuncture on emotion and lipid metabolism need to be further investigated.