INTRODUCTION: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an abruptly occurring loss of renal function, which includes both kidney injury and kidney impairment. It is associated with mortality and morbidity due to the increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the incidence of post-operative AKI in gynaecological patients without pre-existing kidney injury.

METHODS: Systematic searches were made for studies examining the association between AKI and gynaecological surgery published between 2004 and March 2021. The primary outcome was to compare two subgroups of studies; a screening group where AKI was diagnosed by systematic clinical screening and a non-screening group where AKI was diagnosed randomly.

RESULTS: Among the 1,410 records screened, 23 studies met the inclusion criteria, reporting AKI in 224,713 patients. The pooled incidence for post-operative AKI after gynaecological surgery in the screening subgroup was 7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.04-0.12). The overall pooled result for post-operative AKI after gynaecological surgery in the non-screening subgroup was 0% (95% CI: 0.00-0.01).

CONCLUSION: We found a 7% overall risk of post-operative AKI after gynaecological surgery. We found a higher incidence of AKI in the studies screening for kidney injury, illustrating that the condition is underdiagnosed when not screened for. An important risk exists of healthy women developing severe renal damage as AKI is a common post-operative complication with a potentially severe outcome that may be prevented in early diagnosis.