The Association Between Parity and the Risk ofEndometriosis: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective: Studies regarding the effect of parity on endometriosis are in controversy. This study is the first, to our knowl edge, to evaluate the association between parity and risk of endometriosis. The purpose of performing this meta-analysis wasevaluating the association between parity and risk of endometriosis. Materials and Methods: We conducted an advanced search in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science to explore data fromthe beginning of 2000. We performed Egger’s and Begg’s tests to evaluate publication bias. The Q-statistic test and I-squared(I2) test were used to estimate the heterogeneity among studies. The association between parity and risk of endometriosis wasdetermined by the random effects model. Results: In total, we included 17 studies in the present meta-analysis with 78,644 subjects. The pooled overall OR was 0.53(95% CI: 0.40, 0.67). The significant heterogeneity was observed among these studies (I2=95.7%, p