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Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture on women related health

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Abstract

Globally, public health interventions have resulted in a 30-year increase in women’s life expectancy. However, women’s health has not increased when socioeconomic status is ignored. Women’s health has become a major public health concern, for those women from developing countries are still struggling with infectious and labor-related diseases, and their counterparts in developed countries are suffering from physical and psychological disorders. In recent years, complementary and alternative medicine has attracted wide attentions with regards to maintaining women’s health. Acupuncture, a crucial component of traditional Chinese medicine, has been used to treat many obstetric and gynecological diseases for thousands of years due to its analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects and its effects on stimulating the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system. To fully understand the mechanism through which acupuncture exerts its effects in these diseases would significantly extend the list of available interventions and would allow for more reasonable advice to be given to general practitioners. Therefore, by searching PubMed and CNKI regarding the use of acupuncture in treating obstetric and gynecological diseases, we aimed to summarize the proven evidence of using acupuncture in maintaining women’s health by considering both its effectiveness and the underlying mechanisms behind its effects.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFC1709500), the Project of Heilongjiang Province “TouYan” Innovation Team and the Project of Traditional Chinese Medicine Evidence-Based Capacity Improvement in 2023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Reproductive Medicine, Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150036, China

    Huichao Qin

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, China

    Huichao Qin, Jiaxing Feng & Xiaoke Wu

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  1. Huichao Qin
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Correspondence to Xiaoke Wu.

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Qin, H., Feng, J. & Wu, X. Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture on women related health. Front. Med. 18, 46–67 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-023-1051-5

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