SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Obstetrics and Gynecology
Villitis of Unknown Etiology is a condition associated with Pregnancy complication: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Shandong Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Jinan, China
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Background: Villitis of unknown etiology (VUE) is a chronic placental inflammatory lesion of high incidence, but its relationship with adverse pregnancy outcomes remains unclear. This meta-analysis quantifies its impact on five critical complications adverse pregnancy outcomes, including fetal growth restriction (IUGR), preeclampsia (PE), gestational hypertension, small gestation age (SGA), and stillbirth. Methods: We used the search verb "villitis of unknown etiology" OR "VUE" OR "chronic villitis" OR " unknown etiology of villitis ", from databases SCOUP, PubMed and Google Scholar, incorporating cohort studies, case-control studies. Heterogeneity was assessed via I² statistics. Results: The incidence of VUE was higher in the IUGR, PE, gestational hypertension, SGA, and stillbirth groups than in the normal control group. VUE was significantly associated with an increased risk of stillbirth (OR = 3.64, 95% CI: 1.80–7.39) and pre-eclampsia (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.03–1.65). A marginal association was observed between VUE and gestational hypertension (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 0.892–2.23). In contrast, the associations of VUE with IUGR (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 0.509–4.77) and SGA (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.099–10.4) were not statistically significant and exhibited substantial heterogeneity. Conclusion: VUE is strongly associated with stillbirth and PE, highlighting its role in the pathogenesis of placental-related diseases. While there are no significant associations were found with intrauterine growth restriction or small for gestational age infants based on current evidence, these findings solidify the link between VUE and specific obstetric syndromes.
Keywords: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), Meta-analysis, Preeclampsia (PE), Stillbirth, villitis of unknown etiology (VUE)
Received: 07 Jul 2025; Accepted: 30 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Yan and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xietong Wang
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