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Gynecological Morbidity among Women in Reproductive Age: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Merga Dheresa, Nega Assefa, Yemane Berhane, Alelmayhu Worku, Bizatu Mingiste and Yadeta Dessie

Background: Prevention against infection and dysfunction of reproductive organ including sexually transmitted disease is one of the three dimensions of reproductive health. Gynecological morbidities affect women’s physical health, sexual function, social role, psychological life and religious life. For accurate estimation of gynecological morbidity, population based data are considered to be gold standard. There are no global wide population studies on gynecological morbidities. In this paper, we aimed to determine the prevalence of gynecological morbidity among the reproductive age women in the world.

Methods: Using various key words, electronics databases were searched systematically to identify observational studies published so far in English. Meta-analysis was made to summarize the prevalence of gynecological morbidity. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled prevalence. Publication bias was evaluated by testing for funnel plot asymmetry, Begg’s rank correlation test and Egger’s linear regression test. All statistical calculations were made using STATA Version 12.0 software.

Result: Eighteen studies, at least with one outcome variable were included in the final analysis. Ten studies were eligible for pelvic organ prolapse, 8 were eligible for infertility, 11 for menstrual disorder, and 15 for reproductive tract infection. The summarized random effect prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse was 13%, infertility was 8%, reproductive tract infection was 38%, and menstrual disorders were 28%. The overall pooled random effect prevalence of gynecological morbidity was 22% (95% CI=17%-27%, I2=99.38%, p=000). The potential publication bias was suggested by funnel plot asymmetry.

Conclusion: The polled prevalence of overall gynecological morbidity was high. This pooled prevalence enabled us to conclude that the effect of gynecological morbidities is high to hamper the productivity of reproductive age women in the world particularly in a developing nation.