Prevalence and risk factors for repeat induced abortion among Chinese women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives

Repeat induced abortion is a significant public health problem in China. International knowledge about repeat induced abortion and its associated risk factors in Chinese women is scarce, and existing studies are hard to access for international scholars because most are published in Chinese. A systematic review was conducted to analyse the prevalence of repeat induced abortion among Chinese women and determine correlated risk factors.

Methods

Seven electronic databases were systematically searched. Data on the prevalence of repeat induced abortion and related factors were extracted and pooled using a meta-analysis and narrative approach.

Results

Of 2458 articles retrieved from seven databases, 21 were included in the study. The overall pooled prevalence of repeat induced abortion was 43.1% (95% confidence interval 36.7%, 49.5%). Of 25 exposures extracted, 15 factors were significantly correlated with repeat induced abortion, comprising seven individual demographic factors (i.e., age, education, employment, migrant status, parity, unhealthy lifestyle habits and region of residence), four reproductive health- and contraception-related factors (i.e., age at sexual debut, history of sexual activity, contraceptive knowledge and having a regular sexual life) and four sexual partner-related factors (i.e., multiple sexual partners, age of sexual partner, educational level of sexual partner and cohabitation with sexual partner).

Conclusion

The study findings highlight the problem of repeat induced abortion in China and suggest the need for government and civil society to increase efforts to reduce the alarming risks of repeat induced abortion in Chinese women and make them and their sexual partners more aware and protective of their sexual and reproductive health.

中国女性反复人工流产患病率及危险因素：系统回顾和meta分析 摘要

目的：在中国, 反复人工流产是一个重大的公共卫生问题。关于中国女性反复人工流产及其相关风险因素的国际知识很少, 国际学者很难获得现有的研究, 因为大多数研究都是用中文发表的。为分析中国女性反复人工流产的患病率, 并确定相关危险因素, 进行了系统回顾。

方法：系统检索了7个电子数据库。采用meta分析和描述性方法提取并汇集了关于反复人工流产患病率和相关因素的数据。

结果：在从7个数据库检索到的2458篇文章中, 有21篇纳入了这项研究。反复人工流产总的合并患病率为43.1%（95%可信区间为36.7%, 49.5%）。在提取的25个因素中, 15个因素与反复人工流产显著相关, 其中包括7项个人人口因素（即年龄、教育、职业、移民身份、生育情况、不健康的生活习惯和居住地区）、4个与生殖健康和避孕有关的因素（即首次性生活的年龄、性活动史、避孕知识和有规律的性生活）和4个与性伙伴有关的因素（即多个性伴侣、性伴侣的年龄、性伴侣的教育水平和与性伴侣同居）。

结论：这项研究结果突显了中国反复人工流产的问题, 并表明政府和社会公民需要加大努力, 降低中国女性反复人工流产的令人担心的风险, 让她们和她们的性伴侣更多地意识到和保护性健康和生殖健康。

Keywords:

• China meta-analysis
• repeat induced abortion
• sexual and reproductive health
• systematic review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).