The use of artificial intelligence in sexual and reproductive health: a comprehensive scoping review
This scoping review examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) to guide future research and policymaking. We conducted searches across four electronic databases in October 2023. We included primary research studies applying AI on any SRH topic, regardless of language and timeframe. Our search retrieved 12,823 articles, of which abstracts and full texts were independently screened by two reviewers, yielding 2666 studies for final analysis. The predominant health topics were maternal health (44.9%; <i>n</i> = 1198); reproductive cancers (29.2%; <i>n</i> = 779), mainly cervical cancer; and infertility and fertility care (12.6%; <i>n</i> = 337). AI tools were primarily used to facilitate screening and diagnosis (74.2%, <i>n</i> = 1980), support treatment and care management (8.7%, <i>n</i> = 233), and understand health trends (8.6%, <i>n</i> = 230). While substantial progress has been made in certain domains, significant gaps remain in geographic representation, methodological rigor, and deployment studies with external validity.
Authors
- Shona Dalal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1684-7452)
- Tigest Tamrat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8579-5698)
- Gavin Pereira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3740-8117)
- Jennifer Dunne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1001-732X)
- María Barreix (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3613-9672)
- Melaku Birhanu Alemu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1768-6689)
- Rose Weeks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0171-5043)
- Maribel Almonte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1623-8323)
- Gizachew Assefa Tessema (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4784-8151)
- Ana Pilar Betrán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5631-5883)
- Agata Ferretti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6716-5713)
- Gitau Mburu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5812-0529)
- Sameer Pujari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4998-3880)
- Smisha Agarwal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7407-0066)
- Rohit Malpani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3771-6569)
- Rudra Pratap Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7352-855X)
- Lale Say (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1377-1328)
- Shada Alsalamah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3054-5015)
- Sofía Pirsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4647-9170)
- Yu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9655-4379)
- K. K. Kalra
- Carl Cecil Massonneau
- Sara Mengistu
- Ghulam Mohammad Paracha
- Sarah Tanishka Nethan
Institutions
- State University of Malang (ID)
- Bloomberg (United States) (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Curtin University (AU)
- King Saud University (SA)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Impact Assessment (US)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria (AR)
- The University of Notre Dame Australia (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Women s Health
- Published
- 2025-12-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44294-025-00118-3
- Primary Topic
- Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00