Birth weight and premature ovarian insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis

TL;DR

This study finds that low birth weight is linked to a higher risk of premature ovarian insufficiency in adulthood.

Contribution

This paper provides updated evidence through a meta-analysis showing a significant association between low birth weight and premature ovarian insufficiency.

Findings

Low birth weight is associated with increased risk of premature ovarian insufficiency (OR = 1.15, 95%CI 1.09–1.22).

No significant effect of macrosomia on premature ovarian insufficiency was found.

The study confirms and strengthens previous findings with a larger dataset.

Abstract

To comprehensively evaluate the effect of low birth weight on premature ovarian insufficiency.

We performed a systematic review of the literature by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, Wanfang and CNKI up to August 2023. All cohort and case-control studies that included birth weight as an exposure and premature ovarian insufficiency as an outcome were included in the analysis. Data were combined using inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis with fixed and random effects models and between-study heterogeneity evaluated. We evaluated risk of bias using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale and using Egger’s method to test publication bias. All statistical analyses were performed with the use of R software.

Five articles were included in the review. A total of 2,248,594 women were included, including 21,813 (1%) cases of premature ovarian insufficiency, 150,743 cases of low birth weight, and 220,703 cases of macrosomia. We found strong evidence that changed the results of the previous review that low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of premature ovarian insufficiency (OR = 1.15, 95%CI 1.09–1.22) in adulthood compared with normal birth weight. No effect of macrosomia on premature ovarian insufficiency was found.

Our meta-analysis showed strong evidence of an association between low birth weight and premature ovarian insufficiency. We should reduce the occurrence of low birth weight by various methods to avoid the occurrence of premature ovarian insufficiency.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13048-024-01357-9.

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