Fertility and reproductive outcomes following high-energy pelvic fractures: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

There is a need to decipher the effect of pelvic fractures (PFs) upon female fertility and live birth rate, as data including treatment regimens in large, unselected populations remain scarce.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effect of high energy PFs upon female fertility and live birth rate.

SEARCH STRATEGY: Literature search for relevant studies was performed up to March 2022 in five databases: Embase, MEDLINE, CAB Abstracts, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar.

SELECTION CRITERIA: Retrospective studies assessing live birth, infertility, and dyspareunia rates following PFs.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted from studies independently by two authors. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for observational studies.

MAIN

RESULTS

A total of 763 female patients of median age 27.8 years (95% CI 22-38 years) were included with median follow up of 5 years. Among PF patients, infertility hazard ratio (HR) 1.18 (95% CI 0.76-1.84, P = 0.47; I2  = 18%) and dyspareunia HR 0.60 (95% CI 0.34-1.08, P = 0.09; I2  = 66%), did not significantly differ from the age-matched literature-reported rates among non-PF patients.

CONCLUSIONS

No significant differences of live birth, infertility, and dyspareunia rates across patients with PFs were found compared with non-PF counterparts.