Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36137903›Full record

SynthesisVaccine2022

The impact of COVID-19 vaccines on fertility-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

D Zaçe, E La Gatta, L Petrella, M L Di Pietro

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Vaccine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
14.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  14. Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination on Female Fertility.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

D ZaçeSection of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito, 00168 Rome, Italy; Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: drieda.zace@unicatt.it.
E La GattaSection of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito, 00168 Rome, Italy.
L PetrellaSection of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito, 00168 Rome, Italy.
M L Di PietroSection of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore · ITUniversity of Rome Tor Vergata · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDespite literature's evidence about COVID-19 vaccines' safety, concerns have arisen regarding adverse events, including the possible impact on fertility, accentuated by misinformation and anti-vaccine campaigns. The present study aims to answer the question: Is there any impact of COVID-19 vaccines on the fertility of men and women of reproductive age?

methodsPubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane and Embase databases were searched for eligible studies until June 8th, 2022. The search was restricted to articles regarding humans, published in any languages, without additional restrictions. Studies' quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa and the Before and After Quality Assessment scales for cohort and pre-post studies, respectively. Random-effect meta-analyses were performed for parameters considered in ≥ 2 studies, calculating means, p-values and 95 % Confidence Intervals (CIs).

resultsOut of 1406 studies screened, 29 were included in the systematic review. These studies, conducted in Israel (34.5 %), USA (24.1 %), Russia (20.7 %) China (10.3 %), Italy (3.5 %), North America (3.5%) and Turkey (3.5 %) were of poor (34.5 %), moderate (58.6 %) and good (6.9 %) quality. Meta-analyses were performed for pre- and post-vaccination sperm progressive motility (44 %, 95 % CI 42 %-62 % vs 43 %, 95 % CI 31 %-59 % p = 0.07) and concentration (50.6 mln/ml, 95 % CI 35.1-72.8 vs 55.4 mln/ml, 95 % CI 37.4-82.2p = 0.12). Biochemical (0.51, 95 % CI 0.40-0.66 vs 0.60, 95 % CI 0.53-0.68p = 0.45) and clinical (0.45, 95 % CI 0.37-0.54 vs 0.47, 95 % CI 0.40-0.55 p = 0.31) pregnancy rate did not differ among vaccinated and not vaccinated groups. Subgroup meta-analyses based on the type of vaccine showed no significant difference: between vaccinated with mRNA vaccines and non-vaccinated regarding biochemical pregnancy rates; pre- and post-vaccination with Gam-COVID-Vac regarding testosterone, FSH and LH levels; pre- and post-vaccination with BNT162b2 vaccines regarding sperm volumes.

conclusionBased on the studies published so far, there is no scientific proof of any association between COVID-19 vaccines and fertility impairment in men or women.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 VaccinesBNT162 VaccineFemaleFertilityFollicle Stimulating HormoneHumansMalePregnancySemenTestosteroneBNT162 VaccineCOVID-19 VaccinesFollicle Stimulating HormoneTestosteroneAdverse effectsCOVID-19 vaccinesFemale infertilityFertilityMale infertilityReproductionSARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

Identifiers

PMID36137903
PMCPMC9464596
OpenAlexW4296312665

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.