Health-related quality-of-life among patients with premature ovarian insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE: To systematically review studies investigating health-related quality-of-life (HrQoL) in patients with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), to examine questionnaires used and to conduct a meta-analysis of control studies with normal ovarian function. METHODS: Data sources: PubMed, Embase, Web of science, CNKI, and CQVIP, searched from inception until June 2018. The search strategy was a combination of medical (e.g. POI), subjective (e.g. well-being) and methodological (e.g. questionnaires) keywords. PRISMA guidelines were used to assess outcome data quality/validity by one reviewer, verified by a second reviewer. Risk of bias within studies was evaluated. A meta-analysis compared HrQoL in patients and non-patients. Due to measurement differences in the studies, the effect size was calculated as standard mean difference. RESULTS: We identified 6869 HrQoL studies. Nineteen geographically diverse studies met inclusion criteria, dated from 2006, using 23 questionnaires. The meta-analysis included six studies with 645 POI participants (age 33.3 ± 5.47) and 492 normal-ovarian control subjects (age 32.87 ± 5.61). Medium effect sizes were found for lower overall HrQoL (pooled SMD = − 0.73, 95% CI − 0.94, − 0.51; I(2) = 54%) and physical function (pooled SMD = − 0.54, 95% CI − 0.69, − 0.39; I(2) = 55%). Heterogeneity was investigated. Effect sizes varied for sexual function depending on the measure (SMD = − 0.27 to − 0.74), overall HrQoL (SF-36) had the largest effect size (− 0.93) in one study. The effect sizes for psychological and social HrQoL were small. CONCLUSION: POI is associated with low-to-medium effect size on HrQoL compared to normal ovarian controls. The greatest effects are found in general HrQoL and most sexual function areas. Condition-specific questionnaires and RCTs are recommended for further investigation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11136-019-02326-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.