CGF Group highlights 2023 | Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility

Here are our group highlights for 2023. We thank all our editors, authors, reviewers, and consumers for their dedication and contribution!

From our co-ordinating editors Cindy Farquhar and Madelon van Wely

A big thank you to all our authors and editors for their Cochrane work in 2023. While the structure of Cochrane has changed, we have been persistent in improving the quality of our reviews, including attention to problematic trials. We thank all who helped us to improve the quality of our reviews.
It has been great meeting many of you in Copenhagen at ESHRE where we held a successful precongress course and had a wonderful Cochrane and friends dinner.
Some of you were also present at the Cochrane Colloquium in London in September. We look forward to meeting you again at ESHRE in Amsterdam in 2024.
A big thank you also to the editorial staff in Auckland (Helen Nagels, Angela Beros, Marian Showell and Vanessa Jordan) and in Amsterdam (Elena Kostova). We hope that you have a restful time over the holiday period.

New Thematic Group
Gynaecology and Fertility Group and Sexually Transmitted Infections Group have joined Cochrane Sexual and Reproductive Health Thematic Group.
Find out more about the team and our plans here.

Impact Factor
The 2022 Impact Factor for the Cochrane Library is 8.4. The 2022 Impact Factor for the Gynaecology and Fertility Group is 7.3.

Top highest-cited CGF reviews in 2022

Top most-accessed CGF reviews in 2022 (reviews published anytime)

Top Altmetric scores for CGF reviews published in 2022

Top CGF reviews (published anytime) ranked by number of cites in guidelines

*No. cites in guidelines includes all versions of the review published in any guideline – it is important to note that multiple versions of one review (pub2, pub 3) may be cited by one guideline and may contribute to this figure.
** No. review versions cited indicates how many versions of each review have been cited in any guideline (pub2, pub3 etc).

Published reviews and updates

Antibiotics prior to or at the time of embryo transfer in ART

Combined oral contraceptive pill for primary dysmenorrhoea

Gonadotropin‐releasing hormone analogues for endometriosis

Hormone therapy for sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection versus conventional in vitro fertilisation in couples with males presenting with normal total sperm count and motility

In vitro fertilisation for unexplained subfertility

Oral contraceptives containing drospirenone for premenstrual syndrome

Progestogens for prevention of luteinising hormone (LH) surge in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation as part of an assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycle

Statins for women with polycystic ovary syndrome not actively trying to conceive

Surgery for women with apical vaginal prolapse

Surgical approach to hysterectomy for benign gynaecological disease

Timed intercourse for couples trying to conceive

Cochrane News Item - When it comes to starting a family, timing is everything

New protocols
Endometrial injury in women attempting to conceive following sexual intercourse or intrauterine insemination: a collaborative individual participant data meta-analysis (IPD-MA)

Vaginal energy-based devices for vulvovaginal dryness

Evidently Cochrane Blog

Evidently Cochrane aims to make Cochrane evidence really accessible, and to encourage discussion about it, through blogs which usually feature Cochrane reviews on a health topic.

Timed intercourse: can it help you get pregnant?

COVID-19 and miscarriage
In April 2020, Madelon and Elena joined PregCOV19 consortium, an international team of experts working on living systematic reviews investigating prevalence, risk factors, transmission, and diagnosis of COVID-19 in pregnancy. The review “COVID-19 in pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis on the risk and prevalence of pregnancy loss” led by Madelon was published in Human Reproduction Update in November. The review included 120 studies comprising a total of 168 444 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Based on currently available evidence there is no indication that SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first or second trimester increases the risk of miscarriage.

Madelon and Elena published an article “Role of infections in miscarriage”, part of special series of overviews on miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage in Fertility and Sterility.

Achievements
Congratulations to Madelon for receiving the Anne Anderson award in 2023! The Anne Anderson Award goal is to recognize and stimulate individuals contributing to the enhancement of women’s visibility and participation in Cochrane’s leadership. Madelon has been involved in Cochrane for more than 25 years as an author, reviewer, editor, and educator. She is passionate in motivating early career clinicians and researchers, especially women, to be involved in Cochrane’s evidence-based research to improve women’s health.

Congratulations also to Cindy who received the 2023 Gluckman Medal at a ceremony on 5 December. This is Auckland University's premier medical research award and recognises Cindy's outstanding sustained research contributions.

Our managing editor colleague Elena Kostova and her husband Mark welcomed daughter Bella on 29 July. Congratulations to both!

Events
Cochrane Colloquium in London
The Cochrane Colloquium is a meeting where one can actually learn a lot. For instance, about new forms of reviews or on specific statistical issues. We had a great gathering with people from our thematic group and a wonderful party.

Women’s Day Fair at Amsterdam UMC
On March 8, 2023, the CGF satellite and colleagues from the Center of Reproductive Medicine joined International Women's Day Fair at Amsterdam UMC. We shared information about our latest activities in review development, knowledge translation, and research integrity in the field of gynaecology and fertility. There was an opportunity to learn about fertility preservation in the Netherlands and observe sperm cells under a microscope!