ReviewFrontiers in global women's health2023
Successful surgical closure and continence rate of obstetric fistula in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Frontiers in global women's health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of urinary incontinence following successful obstetric fistula repair: findings from five countries in sub-Saharan Africa.BMC women's health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Twelve Years of Managing Female Urogenital Fistula in Uganda: Characteristics, Repair Outcomes, and Predictors for Success in a Multicentre Cohort Study.International urogynecology journal · 2026Article
- Vesicovaginal fistula repair: comparative analysis of perioperative outcomes and predictors of success in open, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches.European journal of medical research · 2026Article
- Epidemiological profile, clinical characteristics, and surgical outcomes of genital fistula repair in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: FisPro DRC Experience.The Pan African medical journal · 2026Article
- Geographic Access Barrier as a Critical Mediator in Obstetric Fistula Treatment Cascade in Nigeria: Evidence from a Causal Mediation Analysis of 5,496 Cases.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- Preliminary experience with minimally invasive transvaginal single-port laparoscopic vesicovaginal fistula repair: report of 10 cases.International urology and nephrology · 2025Article
- LUSSY score predictive of failure of surgical closure of obstetric rectovaginal fistula in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: A female genital fistula is an abnormal connection between a woman's reproductive tract and her urinary tract or rectum. While numerous studies have aimed to determine the success rate of obstetric fistula closure in different health settings, there remains a significant scarcity of data on closure success rates and incontinence rates for various types of fistulas at the regional and sub-regional levels. The success rate reflects the continent's healthcare setup in regard to the World Health Organization standards. Thus, this study aims to determine the success of surgical closure and the continence rate of obstetric fistula in Africa. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis review includes studies conducted up to February 2023. Search engines like EMBBASE, Medline, Google, PubMed, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, and ScienceDirect databases were utilized to find articles. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical evaluation checklist was used to evaluate the quality of our review, which was conducted in accordance with PRISMA criteria. Heterogeneity was indicated by a Result: This review includes 85 studies. A total of 24 countries from East, West, Central, North, and Southern African sub-regions were included. The overall pooled estimated rate of successful obstetric fistula closure is 86.15 (95% CI: 83.88-88.42). Moreover, the pooled estimated rate of successfully closed vesico-vaginal fistulas but with ongoing or residual incontinence (wet) was revealed as 13.41% (95% CI: 11.15-15.68). The pooled estimated rate of successfully closed rectovaginal fistulas and combined VVF and RVF are 91.06% (95% CI: 86.08-96.03) and 62.21% (95% CI: 48.94-75.49), respectively. Conclusions: The rate of successful obstetric fistula closure in Africa is 86.15, which is higher than the WHO target. However, the surgical closure rate of a combined VVF and RVF is 62.2%, which is significantly lower than the WHO target.
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