The association of between assisted reproduction technology and malpresentation/induction of labor: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Some epidemiological studies have investigated that assisted reproduction technology (ART) can increase the risk of malpresentation and induction of labor. To date, no meta-analysis has been performed for assessing the relationship between ART and malpresention/induction of labor. This meta-analysis was conducted to assess the association between ART and malpresention/induction of labor.

Methods: A systematic search was carried out in major databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus to May 2017. The heterogeneity across studies was explored by Q-test and I² statistic. The publication bias was assessed by Begg’s and Egger’s tests. The results were showed using odds ratio (OR) estimate with its 95% confidence intervals (CI) using a random-effects model.

Results: The systematic search included 2103 articles until May 2017 with 1,401,448 participants. Based on OR estimates obtained from case–control and cohort studies, there was significant association between ART and risk of the induction of labor/malpresentation (1.33; 95% CI: 1.23, 1.43) and (1.58; 95% CI: 1.17, 1.98), respectively.

Conclusions: We showed based on reports in epidemiological studies that ART is a risk factor for malpresentation and induction of labor.

Keywords:

• Assisted reproduction technology
• breech
• malpresentation
• meta-analysis
• pregnancy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.