Placenta previa after prior abortion: a meta-analysis

Abstract

There is controversy regarding the role of prior abortion on placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies. We conducted an updated, comprehensive meta-analysis of placenta previa after prior abortion. The search was conducted from PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases from the database inception to January 31, 2017. The heterogeneity across studies was evaluated by Q-test and I2 statistical test. Publication bias was assessed by Begg's test and Egger's test. Results of odds ratio (OR) estimates with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled using random-effects modeling. The literature search included 872 articles up until January 2017 with 2,134,529 participants. Based on OR estimates obtained from case-control and cohort studies, we found a significant association between prior spontaneous abortions and placenta previa (1.77; 95% CI: 1.60, 1.94) and between prior induced abortions and placenta previa (1.36; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.69). The meta-analysis study herein showed that prior abortion is a risk factor for placenta previa.