The global prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this review was to answer the global prevalence of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), and explore the associated factors including etiopathology and regions with POI.

Methods: The search was conducted on reports from a total of eight databases that comprised Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, China BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science and Ovid MEDLINE^® between 1946 and 2021. To analyze the source of heterogeneity, we performed subgroup analysis based on different etiologies and regions. Meta-analysis was carried out by Stata14.0 software.

Results: The results showed that the global overall prevalence of POI among women was 3.5%. By subgroup analysis, the prevalence of POI among women with iatrogenic etiology was 11.2%, followed by autoimmunity (10.5%); the prevalence of POI by region was 11.3% at the highest in North America followed by South America (5.4%); and the prevalence of POI was 5.3% in a developing country, higher than 3.1% in a developed country. The trend of prevalence of POI over the past 20 years was on the rise (although p > 0.05).

Conclusion: We recommend that health and medical institutions strengthen public health awareness, achieve health-education goals related to POI and increase women's awareness of and attention to POI.

Keywords: Premature ovarian insufficiency; etiology; meta-analysis; premature menopause; premature ovarian failure; prevalence.