Ectopic pregnancy rate in Iranian midwifery clients and infertile patients treated by assisted reproductive technologies.

OBJECTIVE: There are some studies on the prevalence of ectopic pregnancy (EP) in a different population of Iranian women. This study aimed to estimate the ectopic pregnancy prevalence in obstetrical clients and infertile patients treated by assisted reproductive technologies in Iran.

METHODS: International and national databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Magiran, Iran doc, and Iran Medex were searched up to January 2016. Also, conference databases were searched. All studies in which, the ectopic pregnancy prevalence in Iranian obstetrical clients and infertile patients treated by assisted reproductive technologies were reported, included and reviewed. Data of studies were extracted into a standard data sheet. Meta-analysis was conducted by a random-effects model with 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS: Eight studies were included, involving overall 571 826 women of whom 1446 had an ectopic pregnancy. The overall prevalence of ectopic pregnancy in obstetrical units of the hospitals and assisted reproductive technologies patients was 2.9 (95% CI: 2.1, 3.7) and 53 (95% CI: 20.4, 85.6) per 1000 clients, respectively.

CONCLUSION: There is limited evidence on the ectopic pregnancy prevalence in Iranian obstetrical clients and assisted reproductive technologies patients. Furthermore, a significant heterogeneity existed between the results. So, more population-based studies on national data are needed for the exact estimation of the ectopic pregnancy prevalence in Iran.