Psychological, social and sexual consequences of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C): a systematic review of quantitative studies

Record Status This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.

Bibliographic details Berg RC, Denison E, Fretheim A. Psychological, social and sexual consequences of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C): a systematic review of quantitative studies Oslo: Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC). Report from NOKC nr 13 – 2010. 2010

Authors’ conclusions The psychological, social and sexual consequences of FGM/C is an under-researched and neglected issue. The low quality of the body of evidence precludes us from drawing conclusions regarding causality, and the evidence base is insufficient to draw solid conclusions about the psychological and social consequences of FGM/C. However, our results substantiate the proposition that a woman whose genital tissues have been partly removed is more likely to experience increased pain and reduction in sexual satisfaction and desire. Future studies investigating the consequences of FGM/C should compare clearly defined groups that differ by the extent of FGM/C, whereby classification is based on gynaecological examination. Multi-centre, comparative studies which apply a methodology that increases the likelihood of equivalency of exposed and unexposed groups of women and standardized data collection, are preferable.