Influence factors associated with fertility desire among people living with HIV in China and other regions: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

Improvement in life quality and medical care makes an incremental fertility desire of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) while the exact of which in China remains scarce. In the current study, we investigated the fertility desire of PLHIV in China and other regions and further explored the possible influence factors, aiming to provide better guidance for formulating relevant policies. PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochran library, EMBASE, Google academy, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China biomedical literature database and Wan fang Database were subjected to search for potentially relevant articles published before February 2023. NoteExpress software was used to summarize and encode the data, and double entry was used to enter the data. According to the fertility intention, the samples were divided into fertility intention group and non-fertility intention group, using Review Manager 5.2 statistical software for meta-analysis. A total of 15 articles with 7578 subjects were included. Four relatively strong correlation factors named education level, martial status, age and number of children were defined and analyzed. The results showed that PLHIV who were highly educated, married, younger than 30 years old or without children exhibited stronger fertility desire whether in China or other regions, followed by the pooled odds: education level (ORchina=1.27, 95%CI: 0.98-1.64; ORothers=1.32, 95%CI: 1.11-1.56), martial status (ORchina=1.32, 95%CI: 1.01-1.73; ORothers=1.70, 95%CI: 1.46-1.97), age (ORchina=4.02, 95%CI: 2.97-5.43; ORothers=2.89, 95%CI: 2.38-3.49), number of children (ORchina=5.52, 95%CI: 4.18-7.30; ORothers=1.67, 95%CI: 1.42-1.97). The pooled prevalence of fertility desire of participants without children in China (64.4%; 95%CI: 31.7%, 97%) was higher than the prevalence in other regions (58.8%; 95%CI: 44.8%, 72.8%), while the prevalence of other groups in China were all lower than those in other regions. There was a significantly higher prevalence and odds of fertility desire in those who are highly educated, under the age of 30, no children and married. Additionally, the group without children in China had a higher prevalence of fertility desire than in other regions.