Peer-reviewed article
Investigation of Prevalence and Complications of Female Genital Circumcision: A Systematic and Meta-analytic Review Study.
Abdoli S, Masoumi SZ, Jenabi E ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the prevalence and complications of female genital circumcision (mutilation) by searching five electronic databases for observational studies in Persian and English. The analysis of 45 studies found that 61% of girls in studied areas globally and in Iran had undergone this practice. The review identified multiple serious complications including sexual dysfunction, childbirth complications, and physical and psychological harm. The authors conclude that the high burden of harm requires government intervention across countries.
Key points
- Prevalence of female genital circumcision was 61% (95% CI: 0.49-0.73) globally and 61% (95% CI: 0.52-0.70) in Iran in studied areas
- Among 207,709 participants surveyed across countries, 110,596 had undergone the procedure
- Female genital mutilation is associated with sexual complications, childbirth problems, and physical and psychological complications
- The practice was reported as close to zero in other areas, indicating geographic concentration
- 45 studies were included in the systematic review from an initial pool of 3,756 studies
Limitations
This review focuses on prevalence and documented complications but does not evaluate any intervention to reduce the practice or address its harms. The review is limited to observational studies and cannot determine causation, and results reflect only studied populations rather than true population-wide prevalence.
Abstract
Objective The present study was conducted to investigate the complications of circumcision and determine its prevalence in the studied areas. Methods In this study, the electronic databases of Scopus, PubMed, SID, Web of Science and Magiran were selected to search the total population of observational studies published in Persian and English on the prevalence and circumcision complications in girls. The keywords searched for this purpose were as follows: female genital mutilation, Infibulations, Epidemiologic Methods, Clitorectomies, Female Circumcision, Clitorectomy, Clitoridectomy Complications, Prevalence, associated disease, coexistent conditions, and sequels associated with concomitant conditions, and coexistent disease and their Persian equivalent words. Prevalence estimates of all studies were pooled using a random-effects model at a confidence level of 95%. The bias in the published results of the studies and any reporting errors were examined using Begg and Egger's statistical tests. Out of 3756 studies, 45 articles were included in the study after excluding irrelevant and repetitive articles. Results After reviewing the articles in this field, it was determined that female genital mutilation has sexual complications, problems during childbirth, physical and psychological complications. The prevalence of female genital circumcision in the world and Iran in the study areas was obtained using the random effect model, which was estimated to be 61% (95%, CI = 0.49, 0.73) and 61% (95%, CI = 0.52, 0.70), respectively. In other areas, the prevalence was reported to be close to zero. In total, among different countries of the world, of the 207,709 participants surveyed, 110,596 had undergone female genital circumcision (110,596 of 207,709). Conclusion The effects of female genital mutilation on girls are high and require government intervention in various countries.