Regret following female sterilization at a young age: a systematic review ☆
- a WHO Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health, Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
- b Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- c Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Received 27 July 2005, Accepted 11 August 2005, Available online 21 October 2005
Abstract
Women who undergo sterilization may later regret this decision. This systematic review examines whether age at sterilization is associated with poststerilization regret. Using MEDLINE and EMBASE, we identified 19 articles that examined associations between women's age at sterilization and later regret, requests for sterilization reversal and undergoing sterilization reversal or requesting in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. Study results showed that the younger women were at the time of sterilization, the more likely they were to report regretting that decision. Women undergoing sterilization at the age 30 years or younger were about twice as likely as those over 30 to express regret. They were also from 3.5 to 18 times as likely to request information about reversing the procedure and about 8 times as likely to actually undergo reversal or an evaluation for IVF. Results of studies that examined risk by continuous age showed a consistent inverse relationship between women's age at sterilization and their likelihood of regretting having had the procedure.
Keywords
- Female sterilization;
- Age;
- Regret;
- Systematic review
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