The structural factors of social determinants of health on Iranian women's childbearing: a systematic review study

Childbearing is an important phenomenon in demographic movements and the basis of sustainable development in countries with low replacement fertility rates. The present study was performed with aim to summarize the existing knowledge about the effectiveness of structural factors of social determinants of health on childbearing of Iranian women.

In this systematic review, observational Persian and English studies published from 1/1/2010 to 23/1/2022 were included in the study. Studies were searched in Magiran, SID, Embase, google scholar, Scopus, web of science, and PubMed databases using related keywords including: Reproductive Behavior, Childbearing, Socioeconomic Factors, Ethnic Groups, Culture, Structural Determinants of Health and Iran. The Newcastle-Ottawa tool was used to evaluate the quality of the articles.

In this review study, 36 studies which met the inclusion criteria were included in the study, and health structural factors (education, income, occupation, ethnicity, and culture) on women's childbearing were examined. Women's childbearing is related to these structural factors of health. In this review study, the highest frequency was related to women's education; so that 18 articles showed the negative effect of education on childbearing.

The results of the present systematic review showed the effect of structural social determinants of health (education, income, occupation, ethnicity, and culture) including women's education on childbearing. This confirms that if population policies can implement programs that make the mother's role compatible with the continuation of women's education after marriage, they can be much more effective.