The trend of infertility in Iran, an original review and meta-analysis

Background & Aim: Worldwide prevalence of infertility has been reported to be 3-7% of all couples. There are varieties among the results of studies conducted on the prevalence of infertility in Iran. The present study aimed to evaluate the trend of infertility using meta-analysis method in Iran. Methods & Materials: We systematically reviewed all published papers in Medline database of the National Library of Medicine and their Persian equivalents (2001–2011). Findings which met the inclusion criteria were included. Random effects meta-analysis was applied to the data of 13 selected populations. Data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed using STATA. Results: Overall, 13 studies met our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of infertility was 13.2% (95% CI: 8-18.3). The pooled prevalence of primary and secondary infertility were reported to be 5.2% (95% CI: 3.7 - 6.6) and 3.2% (95%CI: 2 - 4.4), respectively. The lowest and highest frequency of lifetime prevalence of infertility was 2.8% in 2001 and 24.9% in 2010, respectively. Meta-regression scatter plot showed an increasing trend in the prevalence of infertility during 20012011 (P =0.58). Meta-regression did not indicate a significant correlation between the sample sizes and the prevalence of infertility (P=0.64). Conclusion: The pooled infertility prevalence in Iran is higher than its mean worldwide, and lifetime infertility is increasing in recent years compared to the past in Iran.