Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39075918›Full record

ReviewAndrology2025

Why couple infertility is historically a female-driven problem?

Linda Vignozzi, Sarah Cipriani, Donatella Lippi

Abstract readReviewHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Review in Andrology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
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

3 authors.

Linda VignozziAndrology, Women's Endocrinology and Gender Incongruence Unit, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-0907-0630
Sarah CiprianiAndrology, Women's Endocrinology and Gender Incongruence Unit, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Donatella LippiDepartment of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

Funding

European Union-NextGenerationEU-National Recovery and Resilience Plan Mission 4 Component 2-Investment 1.5-THE-Tuscany Health Ecosystem-ECS00000017-CUP B83C22003920001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe history of studies in the field of infertility represents a chapter of great interest in gender issues.

objectivesThis paper aims to delve deep into the historical roots of the aspect of gender inequality related to couple infertility, with a journey back in time, from classical antiquity to the contemporary age, reporting junctions and metaphors linked to particular historical moments as well as to cultural and religious constructs.

methodsThis is a narrative review based on an extensive literature search of publications regarding the role of women in couple infertility over the centuries.

resultsRarely in the ancient world, male infertility was taken into consideration, and the sources deal with it mainly indirectly. This attitude of "blaming" the woman for the lack of children had, in fact, strong social implications, which only the scientific research of recent years has managed to bring back into the context of a more egalitarian approach.

conclusionsIn the "journey" narrated in this article, the reader starts from the responsibility of couple infertility attributed exclusively to women in some ancient societies, whose central role was determined by their ability to procreate, going up to the medicalization of infertility in the contemporary age, which contributed to sharing with men this participation in the impossibility of having children.

Indexed as

InfertilityInfertility, FemaleInfertility, MaleFemaleHistory, 15th CenturyHistory, 16th CenturyHistory, 17th CenturyHistory, 18th CenturyHistory, 19th CenturyHistory, 20th CenturyHistory, 21st CenturyHistory, AncientHistory, MedievalHumansMalecouple infertilitygenderhistoryinfertilitymedical humanitiesmedicine

Identifiers

PMID39075918
PMCPMC12006883

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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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.